From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

Phil Payne wrote:
> He's a turkey - they're cutting him loose.
>
> http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1605010,00.html
>
> "It's tempting to dismiss Abdullah's summit rhetoric as playing to the
> gallery, but the Washington Post reports that Abdullah has also cancelled
> his attendance at a White House state dinner planned in his honor next
> month. It wasn't so long ago that Bush and Abdullah were practically love
> birds, holding hands as they walked past news cameras during Abdullah's last
> visit to the U.S. in 2005. For better or worse, they may increasingly be
> going their separate ways."
>

Nah it's a much deeper re-alignment going on. To make it into some personal
thing per se is to lose the significance.

I think it could be the start (after many false dawns) of the Arabs
realizing the truth in the "stand together or hang separately"
dictum.

From what I can gather the Arab nations (as individual nations) have
realized that the US doesn't really give a monkey's about them & that
shedloads of oil, 100'es of millions of Arabs & a huge area of land
from the Indian to the Atlantic count for nought in US public opinion &
thus policy.

They have realized that they're getting a steadily more powerful Iran on
one side & IsraeAmerica on't'other & that it's about time they at
the very least started an EU style process if not a NATO one.

My guess is that they are deeply cheesed off at being told what to do
(normally in the negative) in their own region by the US (e.g. don't send
money to the PA, don't help Sunni in Iraq, don't interfere in another Arab
state (i.e. Lebanon) except under Western (US-Franco) terms etc).

It's very very close to the colonialism which most thought had evaporated
following Suez.

The result of this will be a very powerful Shia-Arab state (the first) in
the shape of Iraq in 20 years, an Egypt which is so much larger than it was
(in population & increasingly economically) but seeing precious little
for it's peace agreement wrt Israel, a large number of "occupation
problems" (Golan heights, Palestine, Iraq, UN in Lebanon etc) which
show few signs of resolution by those outside forces, a nuclear Iran, a
nuclear Israel etc.etc.etc.

Long term it is in many ways to the good as rather like China in the
1900-1945 period it is the Arab weakness which is the real cause for so
much of this. e.g. frankly the Arabs/Persians should be the main/only
paymasters in Palestine & the West can then lose it's pretense at even
handedness & then we can have a proper discussion about either dividing
the land or a single federal state in mandated Palestine.


Adam

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