Blair appalled

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The BBC reported a Downing street statement that Blair is appalled. The
spin may be intended to imply that the Brits had some influence on Bush's
change of direction to active intervention in the near East. But my hunch
is that the shrill tone is partly genuine, and partly an expression of how
appalled Blair is at his own impotence.



> Tony Blair is "appalled" by the escalating violence in the Middle East and
> thinks the situation is the "most explosive" seen for years, Downing
> Street says.
>
> Number 10 says the prime minister wants to use his weekend summit with
> President George Bush to discuss how the US can persuade the Israelis and
> Palestinians to pull back from the "abyss".
>
> The comments came after Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain warned the
> conflict threatened to draw in the wider international community.
>
> A European Union peace mission has been sent to Jerusalem to mediate but
> Israel says the EU officials cannot meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.


The pictures show Solana himself being turned back from being allowed to
see Arafat. Prodi has gone so far as to say that US policy in the near east
has "failed".

Europe has been seething during this arrogant laissez faire by Bush. Its
tactics essentially have been deceptively to call on Bush to give
leadership. Bush has now done this by calling for Israeli withdrawal from
the West Bank, (though not too quickly). His sending of Powell to the near
East carries risks for US credibility because it might just fail. Yes the
Palestinians will be cowed and if they get their state, will not dare to
foster the "culture of martydom". But the Europeans will have noticed the
crudeness of Bush's domination of the world.

While the European Union is taking over sovereignty of Macedonia, and is
successfully obliging muslim and non-muslim parts of Cyprus to negotiate it
will be working out sophisticated plans with moderate Arabs to dominate a
somwhat more equitable settlement in the Middle East. The rule may have to
be no overt confrontation with the US but Europe will be working away to
weaken US  hegemonic domination, and to ally with others. One of the end
results to notice is whether the heat is taken off Iraq. By signalling that
Russia needs to be part of a global consensus on the Middle East, Europe is
also seeking allies against a military attack on Iraq.

Blair will continue to try to straddle the USA and Europe, but Britain has
no future except in alliance with Europe.


Chris Burford