I don't like Brussels. That's because Brussels is in Belgium. And, I don't like Belgium. Why? Because, I'm descended from a person who was burned at the stake in Belgium during the Inquisition. In fact, my family barely survived the state-sponsored horror.

This brings us to the International Criminal Court. It's in Belgium. Need I say more?

President George W. Bush will be meeting with NATO heads at Brussels on Monday. After the summit, he will be having dinner with the European Union's Javier Solana. Pray for President Bush. The decisions he makes at that dinner table may have far-reaching consequences for God's people -- for us.

Also at Brussels, a conference was held by the GS1 Forum, an organization responsible for developing global standards for things like barcodes, RFID and electronic product coding. In other words, these people are creating standards for a system of global trade and commerce Read about it here. And, wouldn't you know it. They're doing it at ... at ... you know where.

Back to that dinner table. Both men attending, George Bush and Javier Solana, will have something the other man wants. Bush has the world's last, hard superpower at his disposal. Solana has the world's first, soft superpower at his disposal. American has the ability to project hard military force anywhere in the world. The EU has soft economic and crises management capabilities that can fill the vacuum left by American military action. Friends, it's not hard to see a deal in the making.

But, there will be more going on at that table -- something many may not see. I've been in sales work now for over 30 years. In the course of those years, I've not only had many classes on sales tactics (never liked them), I've had much experience in the trade. One of the principles I've learned is that the first sale to an individual is always the hardest. However, after that first sale has been made, the rest come easy.

In Javier Solana's coming pitch to George Bush, the first sale has already been made. You see, this dinner will be the first official visit from a US President to the EU. In the past, the Presidential visits were always with heads of the EU member states Read about it here. In other words, for the first time, a US President will be sitting down with an EU official as an equal.

This meeting will also be at Brussels.

That's Belgium.