With Friends Like These...
In yet another effort to find a new direction in Iraq, Bush and Rice prepare for a summit in Amman on Wednesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. The Amman meetings also serve to announce the Administration's plan to call on "Arab friends" for help in the region. And who better than the eternally compromised Jordanian state to act as friend and host?
On Sunday, Jordan's King Abdullah called for "a strong step forward" by the international community in order to avert a crisis in the Middle East. Without it, Abdullah warned, we face the foreboding possibility of opening 2007 with "three civil wars" in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. It is no surprise that the Jordanian government, which owes its existence and longevity to its status as client-state (not to mention its recent economic boom due to the US invasion of Iraq), would call for increased action from the West. But the notion that international intervention can improve the situation or stabilize the region is beyond wishful thinking.
The crises that Abdullah describes are each the direct result of international "strong steps." The West's own fears of Islamism has led it to take measures, at times clumsy, at times heavy-handed, to counter what it sees as growing Islamist power. In Palestine, the international community intentionally crippled the democratically-elected Hamas government by cutting off the funding sources that enable the Authority to operate a government. International pressure has followed a similarly disastrous course in Lebanon--willfully attempting to quash the political influence of Hezbollah, which represents Lebanon's majority Shi'a population (who have, although the majority, been limited in government by the structure of the Lebanese state since its inception). And of course, the US invasion of Iraq is the direct cause of that country's descent into chaos (who's long-term causes are sanctions, and US support of Saddam Hussein against more democratic forces in the 1970s and 80s). At every turn, the international community has shown utter disdain to the notion of self-determination and popular will.
Thus it is predictable that the US wants to call upon its "Arab friends" to help resolve its current regional problems--the same authoritarian regimes that have survived for decades by virtue of US support. The result of this initiative will be more of the same, seeking as it does to neutralize all actors that appear to reflect a degree of popular will or regional autonomy.
On Sunday, Jordan's King Abdullah called for "a strong step forward" by the international community in order to avert a crisis in the Middle East. Without it, Abdullah warned, we face the foreboding possibility of opening 2007 with "three civil wars" in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. It is no surprise that the Jordanian government, which owes its existence and longevity to its status as client-state (not to mention its recent economic boom due to the US invasion of Iraq), would call for increased action from the West. But the notion that international intervention can improve the situation or stabilize the region is beyond wishful thinking.
The crises that Abdullah describes are each the direct result of international "strong steps." The West's own fears of Islamism has led it to take measures, at times clumsy, at times heavy-handed, to counter what it sees as growing Islamist power. In Palestine, the international community intentionally crippled the democratically-elected Hamas government by cutting off the funding sources that enable the Authority to operate a government. International pressure has followed a similarly disastrous course in Lebanon--willfully attempting to quash the political influence of Hezbollah, which represents Lebanon's majority Shi'a population (who have, although the majority, been limited in government by the structure of the Lebanese state since its inception). And of course, the US invasion of Iraq is the direct cause of that country's descent into chaos (who's long-term causes are sanctions, and US support of Saddam Hussein against more democratic forces in the 1970s and 80s). At every turn, the international community has shown utter disdain to the notion of self-determination and popular will.
Thus it is predictable that the US wants to call upon its "Arab friends" to help resolve its current regional problems--the same authoritarian regimes that have survived for decades by virtue of US support. The result of this initiative will be more of the same, seeking as it does to neutralize all actors that appear to reflect a degree of popular will or regional autonomy.
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