Web Posted: 07/15/2005 12:00
AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Condoleezza Rice calls it
"Transformational Diplomacy," but what is it? It is the shiny new
name of America's foreign policy promoted by the Department of
State.
No one really knows what it is
or what it involves, but it does sound sophisticated and important.
The mood in the State Department is still quite somber and a few
Foreign Service Officers, or FSOs, are still lamenting the departure
of Colin Powell. He was revered and his departure left a vacuum that
neither Rice nor anyone in this administration can fill.
What the Bush administration
is currently pursuing in the international arena is not
transformational diplomacy, but transformational coercion and as a
result it is experiencing one setback after another as countries and
people resist the bullying.
The "War on Terror" card is
still a powerful tool in the United States, but it is losing its
potency in the international arena because, rightly or wrongly, the
global consensus appears to be that the Bush administration has done
more to promote global violence than any other regime in the world.
But because the United States is the most powerful country in the
world, no one can do much except grunt and bear it until reason
returns to American politics.
In this climate of
intolerance, it is difficult to say this without being accused of
being a fifth column or anti-American, so let the facts speak for
themselves.
First, the Arab-Israeli
conflict is no closer to peace today than it was four years ago. To
consolidate its hold over Palestinian lands, the Sharon government
decided to cut off thousands of Palestinians from their homes and
lands by an internationally condemned barrier. The latest victims
are 55,000 Palestinians who have been segregated from their city and
home, Jerusalem. As things stand, it is impossible to establish a
viable Palestinian state anywhere in Palestine.
Thanks to U.S. money and
protection, Palestine has been stolen and will exist only in the
memory of millions of Palestinians in Diaspora. Gaza, what Israel is
willing to relinquish with conditions, is a densely populated
cesspool and not a viable state. I don't see any peace in Israel's
future or an acceptance of the Zionist state by Arabs.
ut that doesn't seem to bother
Sharon, who has asked the United States for $2.2 billion to
infopensate a few thousand Gaza settlers for settlements that the
United States considered to be illegal. Judging by past experience,
Sharon will get it and more.
Second, last week Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to establish
closer economic, political, and security relations between the two
countries. But wait a second — isn't Iran a part of the "Axis of
Evil?" The Iraqi foreign minister said that Iraq is free to sign
agreements with anyone it wants. By sitting tight and letting the
neo-conservatives do the dirty work, Iran has succeeded in acquiring
more influence in Iraqi affairs than ever before.
Third, to many Muslims the
"War on Terror" has promoted more terror on the world's Muslims than
on the terrorists that precipitated the conflict. And when infobined
with the invasion of Iraq, the war in Chechnya and the Philippines,
as well as the hostility towards Muslims in America and parts of
Europe, it has crystallized into cultural war with Muslims.
Samuel Huntington was not the
first to talk about a clash of civilizations. The prophet of Islam
told Muslims fourteen centuries ago that a time will infoe when they
face such intense hostility and disinfofort that they won't be able
to pray aloud. He predicted Muslim achievements would be denied and
values infopromised.
Finally, by inflating the
threat of terrorism and overselling the solution of infobating it,
Bush is promoting dictatorship in the Islamic world and in turn more
radicalism and terror among people receptive to believing the
concept of a clash of civilization.
Is that Transformational
diplomacy? Transformational, perhaps yes. But certainly not
diplomacy.
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