Bush,
Sarkozy Look For
Different Things In The Middle East, Influence Included
By Marwan Asmar
17 January,
2008
Countercurrents.org
Two men with different personas looking for different things in the Middle East, one a saber-rattler, a no-nonsense Texan, the other a more mellow Parisian with a Jewish background but coming across as more affable.
Two major presidents in one week! People around the world must be envying the Middle East for playing host to US president George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for being in the region within few days of each other pushing for seemingly different political ends.
Bush’s visit to the Middle East, probably the last since he leaves office at the end of this year, is according to the high and mighty, for world stability, security and the thumbs-up, finger linking peace process!
Not content of having its body and soul in the region, the US wants geographical expansion and hegemony with domination from Turkey, Israel, Iraq, the Gulf and the northern tier of the Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan, Pakistan and down to possibly India.
Iran remains as the daring, obtrusive culprit and negative axis of evil member; it has to be brought in line!
Many are saying Bush has to the come Middle East to shore up support among Arab countries to strike Iran just before he leaves office and strike hard, but how, where and through whom. From the Arab countries, he wants continuing support but he is seeking more than lame duck powers!
His first visit to Israel as the start of his Middle East and Gulf tour is being seen by commentators as giving Israel the green light to go after Iran and has allowed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to say his country is considering all options to deal with Iran that could include conventional hits but very probably nuclear strikes.
Political options are ruled out simply because there are no diplomatic channels between the two countries. However, Israel will always be the United States’ regional super-power and watch-dog if it can, short of creating a nuclear disaster on its hands, in which it will surely parish.
Sarkozy’s visit has been much more diplomatic on the other hand. The French president wants to do business, both with the North Africa countries and with the states of the Gulf. He has already made a lot of deals in the tens of billions of dollars he has signed and is likely to make more for France.
He comes to the region, especially Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar with a brisk business-like approach for French companies which he says have been having a hard time in terms of their market share in the region and which can’t be good for the reputation of the French.
However, Sarkozy has not done so badly saying energy, education, and defense contracts worth $59 billion and raising have been made in as many as three-days. Good show for French diplomacy that has always sought to work for their national business acumen, despite the low views made by the French President saying they have left the door open for American companies, German entrepreneurs and the Chinese who are flooding the Middle East market by storm.
But Sarkozy is not interested in selling petty products or hot merchandize. He wants to sell the pride and joys of top niche products made by his countrymen’s national industries.
Because France is a strong member of the western alliance with a strong nuclear industry, it has always sought to make good on utilizing its special products like nuclear for its own business ends. This week, Sarkozy has demonstrated that by selling civilian nuclear energy for peaceful purposes of course, to the countries of the Gulf, UAE and maybe Saudi Arabia included, as if they need it, being dominant oil producers, and not in the economic need for nuclear energy. He has already reached similar civilian nuclear deals with Algeria and Libya the previous weeks.
Notice the US is not complaining about that in the same way as it is complaining about Iran possessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran is clearly seen as the culprit and destroyer of peace, peace according to the perceptions of the US and Israel. Of course if there is a cat-in-hell’s chance of it ever becoming an American friend then it would be reprieved and there would be no danger if it having nuclear weapons
But could Sarkozy selling powers to the Gulf be forgiven because he is seen as a great friend of the Americans and the Israelis which he makes no secret about. Indeed could it be that he will eventually act as the leader that brings the Israelis and Arabs together in the name of business interest and cooperation.
The US has not made one iota of complaints, of course it may be doing so privately, purely in the interest of their own companies to sell their own nuclear energy to Gulf countries.
But being the baked-warming superpower, the United States have had always the tendency to think of big politics and security leaving the issue of economics and business secondary as it did with Iraq under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, which everyone is still suffering from.
One thing is for sure, and regardless of whether it is for destructive or peace means, the introduction of more nuclear energy in the region will surely increase the time-bomb scenarios where Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, tiny UAE and Egypt why-not, in addition to Algeria and Libya will have as much stake in regional instability where the end loser will not only be the states of the Middle East, but America, Europe and the rest of the world.
It may mean however, a sense of nuclear stalemate in the region in which no one wins but everyone is hanging in the balance! For the time being you have two leaders with very distinct approaches.
Finally the French president has scored a final diplomatic triumph for having reached an agreement with the government of the UAE to establish a French military base of 400 men on its soil.
It would be a token base but at least many see it as the beginning of raising French influence in the Gulf vis-à-vis the Americans.
