Dirty Campaign Tactics on Middle East Policy
James Rubin, former chief of State Department | May 16, 2008
The campaigning for the US Presidential Election has gotten ugly on Middle East foreign policy. ++ In his speech to the Israeli Knesset, President Bush accused Obama of appeasing with Hamas. ++ It is “hard to remember any president abusing the prestige of his office in as crude a way as Bush did yesterday.” ++ Senator McCain made Hamas a campaign issue in the first place. ++ Practicing “hypocrisy” tactics, McCain’s radical position not to negotiate with Hamas today contradicts his remarks on that issue two years ago.
Brought up by their fathers - the men responsible for the mass killings back in Rwanda - or by extremist Hutu rebels, the second generation of Hutu child soldiers has grown up.++ They are imbued with the same mind-altering ideology of extermination as during the genocide and reared to hate and murder Tutsis. ++ Most of the children are members of the 
Next month the US will assume the presidency of the UN Security Council. ++ In hopes of preserving its currently vulnerable legacy as an architect of peace, the US plans to move forward in deploying peacekeeping troops to the Darfur region. ++ As the suffering on the ground intensifies, the Bush administration is hoping for partnerships with other African nations to progress in Sudan. ++ Due to its financial and strategic interests in the region, China is also being urged to play a central role.
The conflict in Lebanon is part of the larger regional struggle between Arabs and Iran over influence in the region. ++ Hizbollah military action shows that there is a new game in town. ++ While Iran armed, financed and supported Hizbollah, the Arabs limited their support to the legitimate Lebanon government. ++ In fact, Arab league has failed to have any impact on any major development in the Arab world. The Arabs have acted too late and without coordination to stem the growing influence of Hizbollah and Iran.
When the world cares about what happens within a nation’s borders, it can be assumed that “superpower status” has been reached. ++ For China, this has been made poignantly evident by recent scrutiny from the international community concerning everything from Tibet to the earthquake in Sichuan. ++ Chinese nationalists blame the West for holding a double standard regarding trade, the environment and human rights, claiming the Chinese are damned if they do, and if they don’t. ++ Perhaps now they know what it is like to be an American.
