After five treaties have been shot down in seven months, it is hard to avoid the suspicion that it is the very idea of multilateral co-operation that Mr Bush objects to.

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He said the equipment that he witnessed in operation did not detect "metal objects, mobile phones, or batteries the way in which a full body search would".

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But the manner in which it has made these, and its apparent unwillingness to compromise, has left many other countries, including many of its closest allies, with the impression that it is the very notion of multilateral co-operation to which the Bush administration really objects.

ECONOMIST: America and the UN | The