The German election in September could dramatically change that country’s foreign policy, putting it far closer to the Blair in Europe and Bush everywhere else.

Washington is wasting no time trying to warm to the conservative CDU opposition, which is widely exected to win the election and has said it wants to mend relations with the United States.

Yesterday, CDU foreign policy expert Wolfgang Schauble held an unscheduled 45-minute meeting with George W. Bush.

Significantly, though, Schauble reiterated that the CDU would not send German troops to Iraq.