Gulf Arab states are giving up on America

[MonteSano]

When US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the region earlier this month as part of a new diplomatic initiative with the message of a new "Middle East," she received a cold response. Arab leaders agreed to meet her and listen to her statements and arguments because it was part of the diplomatic protocol. Moreover, Arab tradition demands that a visitor be treated with respect and kindness.

But Arab leaders also know US policy is not made in the State Department. Rather, the real power resides in the White House in the form of the vice president's office and the National Security Council. Despite the portrayal of the Arab world as being backward and living in the past, its rulers and populations, in fact, have a keen awareness about the realities of the new international system and they can see right through the American pretensions.

Moderate Arab allies have basically abandoned the United States - not militarily or economically, but politically. What remains is a facade of a relationship. Egypt, for example, is not about to jeopardize billions of annual aid by completely ignoring the United States. Rather, it pays lip service to the US by receiving its dignitaries and occasionally calling on the US to revive the peace process. The same is true with the Gulf Arab countries, which realize that they require American military power for protection in a dangerous neighborhood. For the moment, they would rather have the US in their back pocket, despite all its problematic policies, than have Iran breathe down their necks.

Given the realities of America's quagmire in Iraq, all the suggestions that, during the second term, the Bush administration became more realistic in its assessment of the Middle East situation and more sincere in reaching out for the assistance and input of its allies is simply nonsense. The bottom line is that the US has not changed its policies on the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past three decades. Under the given circumstances of domestic American politics, the US will never exert sufficient pressure on Israel to reach an agreement on the Arab-Israeli conflict, despite the fact that the outlines of an eventual accord are known to everyone and have been around for some time; it is land for peace and if presented in the right way, the Arabs are ready to accept it. But for whatever reason, every US administration in the past four decades has consistently extended Israel the benefit of doubt, meaning that it was the Arabs who were uninterested while Israel that was seeking peace. Yet, what Israel really wants is both peace and all the land it currently occupies without any tradeoff. It is not rocket science to understand that this is completely unrealistic and will never lead to any kind of security.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=76378

[Erika]

1. Condi is one hard cold woman

Unless she's with oil execs.

[Demeter]

2. And That's Why Bush Bought Land In Paraguay

His Arab relations washed their hands of him.