A rchive Date
[ 10-04-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/stanway.html
The mother of all political paybacks
By PAUL STANWAY -- Edmonton Sun
April 10, 2003
American troops are in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime is on the edge of collapse, and President George Bush is in ... Belfast, Northern Ireland? What's all that about?
There is no greater indication of the new relationship between the United States and Britain, and between George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, than the fact the U.S. president considered it important enough to be in the capital of Britain's troubled Ulster province on the eve of a historic shift in global politics. It confirms that the U.S. is in the driver's seat. Heck, they own the bus.
It puts into perspective the massive miscalculation of the Chretien government. Deputy Prime Minister John Manley is in Washington this week to put a brave face on things and suggest relations with the U.S. are just fine.
But here's the thing, John: The president was in Belfast at a very inopportune time to underline his debt to an ally, while in Washington they are still considering cancelling a planned visit to Canada scheduled for next month.
In fact, American sources confirm that Manley used his "business as usual" visit to deliver a personal appeal that the visit should go ahead.
We'll see. A Bush visit to Canada would be symbolic, to support the world's largest trading partnership and American economic interests. It would not be about doing favours for a prime minister and government in Ottawa that is riddled with knee-jerk anti-Americanism.
By contrast, Bush's visit to Belfast was far more than symbolic. Five years ago the Clinton administration was heavily involved in brokering the Good Friday agreement between Ulster's warring Protestant and Catholic politicians. Bush downgraded that involvement and began listening to advice from the likes of pro-Sinn Fein Republican Congressman Pete King. Like a lot of other things, American statements on the IRA hardened after Sept. 11, 2001, but Blair was anxious to once again get active U.S. support in Ulster. Now he has.
This is actually a much bigger concession to Blair than it might seem. Blair's policy in Ulster is founded on principles that are the exact opposite of the Bush Doctrine of no truck or trade with terrorists or the governments that harbour them. The whole framework of the Good Friday agreement was based on negotiations with the political representatives of terrorist groups and with the Republic of Ireland, which turned a blind eye to IRA operations for years.
Blair's approach to Ulster has been to negotiate with anyone as long as there's a hope of peace. Surely there can be no greater contrast than between the polite requests that the IRA, in its own time, put its weapons "beyond use" and the considerably more aggressive approach to disarming Saddam Hussein.
But that's what Bush's new buddy Blair is all about. He persuaded the American president to go to the UN over Iraq. When that failed he talked him into a second UN resolution. At the pre-war Azores summit he even got Bush to talk about "working in close partnership" with the UN in the rebuilding of Iraq. He has managed to get the president to endorse a "road map" to peace between Israel and the Palestinians as a postwar priority. All counter to much of the advice Bush has had from many of his own trusted aides and cabinet members, and all of it designed to support Blair in the face of enormous criticism at home.
No wonder the British press are calling it "the mother of all political paybacks."
And it won't end in Ulster. The traditional relationship between the U.S. and Britain has undergone a complete renovation as a result of Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq. The two countries are closer now than at any time since the end of the Second World War and are likely to become closer still. Whether the Germans and French like it or not, U.S. relations with Europe will now be filtered through London - which will lead the pro-American, "New Europe" bloc within the European Union.
Bush may be a reluctant statesman, but regardless of whether you agree with him - and contrary to the ramblings of Herb Dhaliwal - he is well on the way to becoming a significant one.
Bush Sr. once talked optimistically about a New World Order, but it has fallen to the son to actually begin building it.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@edm.sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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