Posted on 04/18/2003 8:48:20 AM PDT by fightinJAG
Coalition of unwilling still at it
Saddam Hussein's statue falling in Baghdad's Paradise Square will be a lasting symbol of the liberation of the Iraqi people. But the comments of Iraq's UN Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri last week sum up the collapse of the Saddam regime.
"The game is over," Aldouri said simply.
Game? Aldouri went on to say he meant that the war was over. But his first statement was more telling.
The Iraqis, with the able assistance of Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schroeder, Vladimir Putin and, of course, Kofi Annan, gamed the U.S. and the coalition at the UN for six months.
And to their lasting credit, President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair went about the serious work of removing Saddam Hussein from power. The forces of the coalition have carried out that mission with remarkable success.
But Chirac, Schroeder, Putin and Annan don't understand that Aldouri finally grasped the truth: The game really is over.
Opposition perseveres
Chirac, Schroeder and Putin chose to meet in St. Petersburg, dead set on preserving their de facto geopolitical bloc, which has one aim: to oppose U.S. policy on Iraq and the Middle East.
Annan was supposed to be there as well, but apparently decided at the last minute that it would be a too obvious show of obsequiousness.
The secretary general's motives can't tolerate that level of transparency as he tries to maintain control of the UN's Iraq Oil-for-Food program and as Chirac, Schroeder and Putin scramble to preserve some portion of their billions in commercial interests in Iraq.
Annan's alignment of the UN with the appeasers has only widened the rift between the UN and their governments and the coalition. Theirs is a dangerous game, and one that is likely to alter significantly economic and political blocs for years to come.
Going back to business as usual at the UN isn't possible. President Bush has made it clear that he won't wait for UN approval when the future of this country is at stake.
And the damage that France, Germany and Russia have done to geopolitical alliances won't easily be undone.
"What is at risk here right now is the long-term solidarity of the European Union," says George Friedman, chairman of the global intelligence firm Stratfor.
Friedman also warns that Russia is particularly vulnerable.
"If Iraqi oil comes online and the price of oil falls, they have a very high production cost - and they depend heavily on oil exports to finance their economy."
Ignoble bloc
Faced with such grim realities, you would think that Putin, Schroeder and Chirac might soften their obstructionist politics. And you'd certainly think that Annan would be working hard to move France, Germany and Russia closer to the coalition's positions and the new reality of the Middle East.
Instead, the opposite is occurring.
Since the Cold War ended, we've been living under the optimistic assumption that shared geopolitical and economic interests would drive globalization, which would, in turn, drive prosperity.
But now the governments of France, Germany and Russia, with the help of the UN, have chosen to pursue their political and commercial interests rather than join the coalition in the pursuit of noble purpose. France, Germany and Russia have created an ignoble bloc, and its members deserve one another.
Thank goodness. President Bush really has made the world a safer place.
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