Britain's Observer: "At the moment, the Americans are happy"

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Britain still has a role in our less than ideal world

Leader
Sunday July 23, 2006
The Observer

{snip}

The truth is that the Israelis will respond to only one international interlocutor: the United States. At the moment, the Americans are happy to watch a fundamentalist Islamic militant organisation suffer losses at the hands of one of their closest allies.

Having themselves conducted a series of military campaigns based on air power directed against similar radical groups (with similar consequences for civilian populations), the US is unlikely to stop its allies doing the same. Only when Washington calls for a ceasefire - and Condoleezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, would not be heading to the region if she did not think she could have an effect - will the Israelis stop shooting.

On the other hand, we could not support a strategy that would lead to the creation of half a million refugees and the inevitable civilian deaths and injuries from aerial bombardment. Therefore, the stronger words of senior government ministers such as Kim Howells this weekend are very welcome - and overdue.

The only path is that of pragmatism. In other words, a compromise based not on rhetoric or ideals but on a realistic appraisal of our capabilities and influence. The immediate task is to try to ensure that Israel does not attempt to re-establish its occupation of southern Lebanon or trigger a full-scale escalation of a Middle Eastern war. We need to solve the problem, not pontificate.

This is not an ideal world . . .


more: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/comment/0,,1827038,00.html