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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Cheney's trip

So, Cheney goes to Saudi to meet with the king, and that same night, the Palestinians agree to a ceasefire. But take a minute to see how the plan to "win friends and influence neighbors" is being described,
A Western diplomat said the United States wanted to counter the threat from Iran and Syria by co-opting moderate Arab nations on both Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli issue and the current diplomatic push was proof of this.

The key word to me is co-opted. The US is still trying to force circumstances rather than finding some real agreement, but the problem is, while the US is trying indirect diplomacy through influence, the Syrians and Iranians have direct influence.

So, I guess it's not surprise that the ceasfire has already been broken by rockets coming out of Gaza.

2 Comments:

  • (side issue that bugs me:

    Why do we, in America, who supposedly have no special respect for hereditary aristocracies, continue to call Arabia 'Saudi Arabia'? It's named that because the country is owned and controlled by the Saudi family, right?
    We don't call the US 'Bush America', or England 'Windsor Britain', do we...?)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:53 AM  

  • That's a really good question I never thought of.

    I am repeatedly amused that we're going to the king to help us spread "democracy."

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:22 AM  

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