US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates have flown to the Middle East to initiate the process for a regional peace conference. They are currently in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office has issued a statement saying in sum that he hopes "Many Arab countries will attend the summit."
As has been the case in the past, US Presidents seem to get to the Middle East peace process almost after the fact. This seems to be true with this President as we watch the flurry of diplomacy. Rice seems like she is too late despite appearing to have wanted a different (engaged) approach. Gates has some credibility in his tough analysis of the man he replaced (Donald Rumsfeld). Then again this is the man who massively politicized intelligence during the Iran Contra scandal. A National humiliation.
As well, US President George Bush in some corners is considered to be the worst US President ever (at least since Herbert Hoover) Actually this has been a topic of discussion as far back as 2004 or more.
Who will listen to this President at this stage? Can Rice get regional Arab players to attend the summit? The answer might lie with Olmert who appears to be concession ready, as some would say, to save his skin.
related:news.xinhuanet.com
2 comments:
Once again the US administration is too late to the dinner table in the middle east peace process and doing everything wrong in their approach on foreign policy. It's like being inivited to a dinner party and showing up to the wrong house on the wrong date.
So why will any middle east country listen to what the US has to say?
Maybe because the Bush Administration is trying to sell 60 Billions dollars worth of WMD weapons to all of the middle east countries that need a change of attitude on the way the Iraq war is being handled by the White House and Dept of Defense.
Selling Weapons to dictatorships and human rights abusers will not help the credibility of the US around the world. On the contrary, it will increase the justfication of Irans nuclear program and spur on more arms deals by China and Russia to anyone with a need.
This "peace" posturing by the White House is more about going after Iran( and their influence in Iraq) than the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Its about the entire middle east regions history and the desire of Iran to have a new Persian empire rise again to conquer and rule it's neighbors.
PM Olmert might be coming to the peace table ready with some concessions but other people like past PM Netenyahu is trying to persuade the US government to act right now against Iran; otherwises they might attack Israel directly and/or attack via Syria,Lebanon and Gaza.
Everyone in the region seems to be flexing their muscles. So how can brains succeed over braun? I don't know, but a good start would be to invest 60 billion dollars in alternative energy resources and take Oil off the dinner the table.
Because it's not about talk; it's about technology. Technology makes talk consequential. The U.S. has the technology (grants) to make listening consequential.
I wish this was about PR attitude-damage control vis a vis Iraq.
For politically participating American, European, and Moderate Muslim consumerists, survival requires deterrence. For the ruling elites in Iran, success requires a nuclear technology of aggression through which deterrence can be made contingent on complicity with the Arab/Islamicist honor destroying of Israel. Russia has reverted to its Soviet-era ways of clandestine coalitions that initiate campaigns of military intimidation and status quo destabilization while managing public relations by defensively adopting a friendly diplomat stance which pursues its war objectives by other means -- in a manner consistent with this current anonymous comment. Like Russia, Europe has a long history of collusion with the bullying and burning of Jews and, like America, lacks the financial and military resources to stand up against the Jihadists.
The goal of each successive Anglo American ruling elitist is peace today at the expense of a possible powder keg tomorrow. Meanwhile, the proto-civilized jihadists, complicit Saudi sponsors, and complacent media lurkers accelerate the positioning of tumblers along the so-called road to peace. For America, success requires Saudi sponsorship which ultimately matters most. For the Saudis, Israel is an embarrassment to be removed.
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