Citizen G'kar: Musings on Earth

March 10, 2005

The Death of Arab Nationalism?

Syria Comment: March Meanings
The Golan issue and the crappy treatment of the Palestinians are real sticking points. As we saw in both Nasrallah's and Bashar al-Asad's speeches, it is the issue of occupied territories that keeps their struggle alive. People are still willing to buy into the resistance rhetoric because justice has not been done. End the land disputes and both Baathism and Hizbullah defiance will sputter out. There will be nothing left for them to debate but democracy and developing their own countries.

[...]
STEVEN WEISMAN in a N.Y. Times article entitled: "U.S. Called Ready to See Hezbollah in Lebanon Role," writes, "France has argued that Hezbollah ought to be encouraged to concentrate on politics. Our language on this has been since Hariri's death not to go too far beating up on Hezbollah," a French official said. "It might hurt, and it won't help. We could be a turning point now, with Hezbollah maybe turning to politics and politics alone. The United States is no longer making a case of using this issue to disarm Hezbollah and brutally crush them." This is an important shift for the US, if it is true. Israel is still pressing to see Hizbullah disarm, but how do you do it? The US does not want more UN troops in Lebanon and must follow France's lead on strategy toward Syria and Lebanon. Should the US lose European support for its Lebanon strategy, it will be powerless.

Very insightful point of view. If the Palestinians make peace with Israel, what will there be for the Arabs to unite about? Muslim fundimentalism may be a possibility, but Arab governments see them as a threat, not an ally.
I don't buy the US will recognize it's powerless. I'm sure Bush still thinks bombing the Syrians in Lebanon is an option. Syria would have little choice but to either turn tail and run or pre-emptively attack Israel. It won't risk its air force on defending troops in Lebanon. Leaving Lebanon under threat could doom Syrian leadership. Bashar would have to do something dramatic to save face. I seriously don't think Bush has that option without risking full scale war between Syria and Israel. But another war when peace is at hand is not a helpful option.

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