Behind Palm Beach'smoke screen: Bush's foreign agenda.
It seems to me --a Brussels dweller-- that both camps, somehow, knew about skulduggeries and ballot-rigging in US elections.... So the question is, why did the Democrats blow the lid off it NOW? I really don't think that your politicos give a damn about a coupla retirees from a middle-class resort in Florida --the so-called Palm Beach Recount is a cover for both the pro-Israeli lobby and the Bilderberg lobby (whose last meeting was held in a Brussels suburb in early June 2000).
Do you really think that such a snafu could have come out of diverging visions as regards the US's domestic policy only? I don't think so. I don't think the Democrats have opened the Pandora's box just because of Bush's tax-cut craze! A coalition of foreign lobbies drove them into destabilizing the whole electoral process.... Here're a few clues:
Europe, Wary of Unilateral Moves, Favors Status Quo on Foreign Policy
Tom Buerkle November 2, 2000
London-- The United States is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in its relationship with its European allies, a superpower whose military, economic and cultural dominance is unrivaled but whose consistency of purpose is often questioned.
European anxieties about their powerful ally flared dramatically after a recent suggestion by Governor George W. Bush's foreign policy adviser that the United States withdraw its peacekeeping troops from the Balkans.
That suggestion has touched on Europe's biggest concern, namely, that Washington is prone to taking unilateral action without considering the consequences for its allies.
[snip]
iht.com
Opinion in Middle East Is Divided on Contenders
Keith B. Richburg November 2, 2000
Jerusalem --Israel is sometimes, and not always kindly, referred to as America's 51st state.
But while the designation may not be accurate, the sharp division over the American election seems to fit the pattern found across many of the 50 U.S. states. Opinion in the Middle East is divided: The Democrat Al Gore is favored by Israelis, while George W. Bush, the Republican, enjoys perhaps a marginal edge among Palestinians.
The election Tuesday comes at a particularly trying time in the Middle East. More than a month of violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops on the West Bank and in Gaza has taken a high toll of Palestinian lives and abruptly halted seven years of peacemaking efforts.
Attitudes on both sides are hardening against peace.
President Bill Clinton has worked actively, some say tirelessly, to try to bring the two sides together, but so far to no avail.
While Israelis believe either Mr. Gore or Mr. Bush will continue to support Israel and any future U.S. administration will remain involved with Middle East peace efforts, some see Mr. Gore as more of a guarantee of continuity. One concern is that a Bush election might mean at least a temporary disengagement, while a new administration takes form.
"For the majority of Israelis, Al Gore is a known quantity -we've known him from 24 years of public service," said Hirsh Goodman, a founding editor of The Jerusalem Report and now deputy head of the Center for Strategic Studies, a research group. "Intuitively and instinctively, we feel more comfortable with him than with an unknown quantity."
[snip]
iht.com
Even if George W. Bush pledges some sort of continuity with Clinton's foreign tenets, Europeans are uneasy about what they call his "entourage", namely, former Chmn of Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condi Rice. Just remember that, 30 years ago, the NSA job was filled with a certain Henry Kissinger --that is a European Jew who emigrated to the US as WWII broke out... And today the Secr. of State post is held by Madeleine Albright who also enjoys a Jewish background. To be sure, American Jews have skillfully oiled the wheels between Europe and America whensoever. However, such a long-standing middlemanship might conceal a few drawbacks.... For instance, as regards Africa, it tends to further a neocolonial status quo whereby the US's global leadership gets hampered (the bombing of 2 US embassies in East Africa in August 1998 by the French).
Whence the feeling among most European chancelleries that GW Bush betrayed the tacit agreement between Europe and the US as he made it clear that Powell and Rice will be his top advisers on foreign matters. That's a "human risk" for smooth diplomatic relations: it's one thing for Pres. Jacques Chirac to welcome Madeleine Albright with a polite baisemain (handkissing), quite another to chatter with Colin Powell about those hapless Africans.... A whole new ball game indeed...
Gus. |
