Bush in Europe

It seems Bush and "old Europe" are in disagreement about the future of NATO (link):

President George Bush's attempt to heal the rift with Europe on Iraq was marred by fresh differences over the role of Nato.
Tony Blair joined Mr Bush in hailing the alliance as the "cornerstone" of the trans-Atlantic relationship, under repair in the wake of the war.
But French President Jacques Chirac backed German suggestions that Nato should take a back seat to the European Union.

In early posts I had talked about the possibility of the EU functioning as a counter-balance to the United States, and the above seems to lend some support to that position. However, I thought this was really interesting:

Mr Bush hit back with a warning that the "most successful alliance in the history of the world" must not be taken for granted.
And in an echo of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's dig at "old Europe", he pointedly said "new" East European members did not do so.

The reason I find this so interesting is because the US has done one heck of a job at attempting to destroy another successful alliance--namely the UN. Rumsfeld's distinction between "old" and "new" Europe was in fact part of this strategy. So, it seems really hypocritical that Bush would now be doing what appears to be a complete 180 on the issue.

Of course, I think the only reason behind this is the incredibly vulnerable position the United States is in and so now they've got to do the diplomacy thing, if only because it's the only real option on the table.