"Let's make a deal!" - U.S. foreign policy shift

[Dover]

This is a good article. There was a clear shift in media and Rovian machinations prior to this election which had the feel of backroom wheeling and dealing for a 'new approach', a Plan B, or perhaps simply the 2nd phase of Plan A by the powers that be. We've been receiving signals from the media for weeks now about the changing of the guard.

I believe this, more than some sort of overwhelming wave of change by The People was at work here. I think it's quite likely that the actual majority was always pretty much the same in numbers and votes since 2000, and only voting irregularities and propaganda created the illusion of a 'close' and nearly equal opposition within the electorate. Hence the need to further control exit poll results.
This was a surprisingly quiet election, and Bush seemed in his demeanor, unphased with the change (did you notice?) as if the changes were already a done deal in his mind.

There are no political parties to speak of in the upper echelons of power...only money and strategy. And that's why we'll likely not see too many heads-a-rollin. Just quiet departures and tactical shifts. But the underlying agendas and interests will remain intact.




Nov 8, 2006

US ready to face the world anew
By Stephen Julias and Max Fraad Wolff

The George W Bush era began with withdrawal from multilateral agreements and lively pronouncement of Pax Americana's historical mission and might. Allies were icing on a global cake of the United States' baking and for the United States' eating. This was to be showcased to a timid world by ending "rabid" Middle Eastern regimes bent on the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and blessing minions with the virtues of democracy.

This vision, mission and method have now failed so dramatically as to be unsustainable for the US president and his remaining allies. On Tuesday it is likely that Bush's Republican Party will pay a price at the polls similar to that paid by many of the politicians that joined this ill-fated crusade.

Once it hurts the US domestic base and, thus, re-election prospects, it's time for a change. Sacrifice remains the duty of others. As we all wait to see what happens - or doesn't - on Tuesday, a few things of real import are already clear. A new ethos will flow from Washington toward a jilted world and recently damned "evil dictators". It will be along the lines of "let's make a deal".

For this there is the US dealmaker extraordinaire, former secretary of state James A Baker III. The new policy will go as far in modesty - while meeting America's immodest strategic regional needs - as the last policy departed from humility and, in its darker moments, rationality.

The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by Baker and Lee H Hamilton, will conclude that the US needs to make deals with Syria, Iran and the rest of a timid world to assure that the US can escape Iraq without a total loss of its long-term interest...cont'd

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK08Ak01.html