Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.

The first condition of success for the League of Nations is therefore a firm understanding between the British Empire and the United States of America and France and Italy that there will be no competitive building up of fleets or armies between them.

In the United States there's a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries in Catholic countries a successful person is a sinner.

The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.

I admire President Chavez for his strength to resist the United States. Instead Bush is waging a war of terrorism against the world.

We should believe in the strength and vitality of the values which constitute the E.U. and which neighbouring states can believe in and aspire to join.

The single currency should allow the European Union and therefore France to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China.

I still believe in the possibility of the United States with all its will and all its strength and I don't just mean military persevering against any challenge. I still believe in that.

As much as I value an union of all the states I would not admit the southern states into the union unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.

So Europe needs to be competitive and we also need to be competitive if we wish to remain an interesting economic partner for the United States. This has to be done on the basis of strength of competitiveness.