Repères 26/05/08 - Les USA perdent pied au Moyen-Orient
Les faits se bousculent au Moyen-Orient pour conforter notre analyse du 19/05/08 : Les discours surréalistes de George W. Bush n'y changeront rien, les Etats-Unis semblent avoir perdu toute influence et toute capacité d'agir sur le cours des évènements.
Mideast negotiations now bypassing Washington
McClatchy Newspapers May 23, 2008"In a week of dramatic developments in the Middle East, the most dramatic development of all may have been the fact that the United States, long considered the region's indispensable player, was missing in action.
As its closest allies cut deals with their adversaries this week over the Bush administration's opposition, Washington was largely reduced to watching...
...Over the past few days:
- The Lebanese government, which has received $1.3 billion and political support from the Bush administration, compromised with the Hezbollah-led opposition, giving the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group, which Washington considers a terrorist organization, a greater role in running the country.
- Israel ignored U.S. objections and entered indirect peace talks with Syria through Turkey, another longtime U.S. ally.
- The U.S.-backed Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki deployed military forces to Baghdad's Sadr City slum under an agreement that specifically excluded U.S. troops.
- Saudi Arabia, a crucial oil supplier and long a major buyer of U.S. weapons, is quietly closing what could be a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Russia, according to a U.S. defense official.
State Department officials scoffed at the notion that the United States has been relegated to the sidelines.
Private analysts and some foreign diplomats, however, said that leaders in the Middle East, both friend and foe, are now calculating with an eye to the era after President Bush — who visited Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt this month with little visible effect..."
