Posted on 02/25/2005 9:45:20 PM PST by quidnunc
In the world of the American neocons, salsa is not a sexy dance. It is in-group jargon based on the initial letters of a congressional bill which George Bush signed into law just over a year ago.
At the time, European chancelleries barely noticed the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. If spotted at all, it was written off as ideological froth with little practical relevance. Even now, in spite of the international interest caused by Washington's accusations of Syrian involvement in last week's murder of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, salsa has not got many European policy-makers jumping.
More's the pity, since the act increasingly looks like a key marker in setting the tone for Bush's second term. Don't be fooled by the president's visit to Europe this week. With its grand talk of a new era in transatlantic relations, the trip was designed to sound a note of reconciliation, like the earlier foray by the new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.
Washington understands European concerns about the need for multilateral consultation and more use of diplomacy, we were told. Even on Iran, where Europe clearly diverges from Washington, Bush put the soap on softly.
Welcome though these assurances on Iran are, they do not go to the heart of the matter, which remains the neocons' agenda for the Arab world and their support for the most hardline elements in Israel. Europe needs to be highly wary. What Bush does in the Middle East is more important than what he says in Europe.
Ariel Sharon and his Likud party have long seen their Syrian neighbour as a more direct menace than distant Iran, and the evidence suggests the Bush administration shares this view and has started to take action accordingly. Removing Saddam Hussein was the primary foreign policy goal in Bush's first term. The No 1 focus for regime change under Bush Two is Damascus, not Tehran.
-snip-
Well .. the Syrians just went up a notch higher. One of the people involved in the London bombings is some Syrian guy - high profile terrorist type. Didn't catch the name.
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