ADVANTAGE LILEKS

Advantage James Lileks, who writes in his latest Newhouse column:

Let’s just be blunt: The North Koreans would love to see John Kerry win the election. The mullahs of Iran would love it. The Syrian Ba’athists would sigh with relief. Every enemy of America would take great satisfaction if the electorate rejects the Bush doctrine and scuttles back to hide under the U.N. Security Council’s table. It’s a hard question, but the right one: Which candidate does our enemy want to lose? George W. Bush.

England’s far left Independent today (complete with Robert Fisk ad to the right of the story):

If the human race as a whole, rather than 50 states plus the District of Colombia, could cast a ballot this coming November, John Kerry would surely win the presidency by a landslide.

Unfortunately for President Bush-haters around the world, only the 200 million United States citizens of voting age will have that right – and the outcome is anything but sure.

And The Guardian, also from England, picks up the theme:

America’s voters have done themselves a great favour. If they had picked Mr Dean, Mr Bush would have made mincemeat of him. By picking Mr Kerry, they have given the Democrats their best chance of recapturing the White House. That is something for Britons to welcome too. Nothing in world politics would make more difference to the rest of us than a change in the White House.

The free world has never had a stronger interest in the result of a US election than it has in the defeat of Mr Bush. Senator Kerry carries the hopes not just of millions of Americans but of millions of British well-wishers, not to mention those of nations throughout Europe and the world.

Of course, you could find similar articles at the time about the Republican who was in office in 1984, as well…

UPDATE: Speaking of the North Koreans, CBS News reports that North Korea is using The Diary of Anne Frank to teach kids about American(!) Nazis:

Anne’s plea for peace is a curious message for these students, because North Korea is constantly preparing for war. Dictator Kim Jong Il spends the country’s meager resources maintaining a powerful military. And it turns out that North Korea is using Anne’s diary to tell students they must sacrifice for the military — because war with America is inevitable.