Today’s election is universally regarded as the most important presidential election in the United States for at least 40 years. But in spite of that — or maybe because of that — most world leaders have stuck to protocol and been silent about which candidate they’d prefer to see in the Oval Office next January.

Nevertheless the high stakes have prodded some leaders into breaking ranks and voicing their preference. Sometimes this message arrives in a subtle yet decipherable statement, as it did in a recent speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During a trip to Tajikistan, the Russian leader said attacks on coalition forces in Iraq were aimed at defeating Bush. “If they achieve that goal, then that will give international terrorism a new impulse and extra power,” he said.

Putin has opposed the invasion of Iraq. Though he has coyly refused to explicitly state which candidate he likes better, the statement equating a Bush defeat with a terrorist victory was a clear indication of support for the incumbent.

European leaders have mostly kept silent. No endorsement came from France or Germany, despite the fact they opposed the war on Iraq. One exception is Norway's Labor Party leader Jens Stoltenberg, who said, “We wish the best of luck to John Kerry.”

In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair imposed a gag order on ministers, insisting they observe strict public neutrality.

Despite Blair’s instruction, one of his leading supporters made an extraordinary intervention in the U.S. election by saying that a victory for Senator Kerry would herald a surge in terrorism and suicide bombings. The comments by Gisela Stuart, the former health minister, were published by the British newspaper Telegraph on Sunday — on the eve of the election — and ran the risk of severely embarrassing the prime minister.

Stuart claimed that a Kerry victory over President Bush would prompt “celebrations among those who want to destroy liberal democracies.” In another dig at the Democratic challenger, she wrote, “You know where you stand with George and, in today’s world, that’s much better than rudderless leaders who drift with the prevailing wind.”

Also on Sunday, the British Independent revealed that Blair has sent one of his closest advisors on a secret peace mission to mend relations with Senator Kerry.

Other leaders who have weighed in include Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has sent troops to Iraq in only a humanitarian capacity. “I'm close to Bush, so I'd like him to do well,” he said.

Another Asian heavyweight, Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, seemed to lean towards Bush by saying that “Asia needs … a president who can withstand the pressures of protectionism, pressures against outsourcing, (and) is able to keep free trade going.”

In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad left no doubt to his feelings. Referring to Bush in a newspaper interview, he said that the U.S. electorate “appears to be willing to accept a person who told a blatant lie and to elect a liar.”

But paradoxically, even in countries with strained relations with the U.S., Kerry does not seem to be a popular choice. “We haven’t seen anything good from Democrats,” said Hasan Rowhani, head of Iran’s top security decision-making body, the Supreme National Security Council.

Cuban parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon had little optimism about Kerry either: “Given what he’s said already, it seems like with him it would be more of the same.”

Germany’s Bild Backs Bush

Unlike their governments, many foreign newspapers, especially in Europe, are happy to take a stand. “Clearly, if the world had a vote, the result on Nov. 2 would not be in doubt,” the left-wing Guardian newspaper of London said in an editorial column.

The Guardian even started a letter-writing campaign that encouraged British citizens to contact potential swing voters in the hotly contested state of Ohio. However, that initiative backfired after the London paper received hundreds of complaints about foreign meddling in U.S. affairs.

The influential French newspaper, Le Monde, made an exception to its rule of not supporting a candidate to an election in a foreign country and decided to endorse John Kerry.

Bild, Germany's best-selling newspaper, endorsed President Bush despite polls showing the vast majority of Germans back Senator Kerry. It was the first time Bild, or any German newspaper, had ever backed a U.S. presidential candidate.

The Danish paper Information said the whole world should have the right to cast a vote in the U.S. presidential elections, because the world belongs to everyone and everyone’s future was at stake when the world’s most powerful leader is elected.

On the issues of Palestinians and Iraq, most Arab newspapers do not see a “proverbial hair between the two candidates’ declared Middle East policies,” in the words of the Jordan Times. While many oppose Bush, they profess to know little about John Kerry.