Why Bush's gestures carry heavy warnings
In the world of high diplomacy, even handshakes have meaning. Trevor Royle examines the US President's hasty world tour
All eyes were on Air Force One as it swooped into Geneva airport in advance of last week's G8 summit. President Bush was only going to spend a few minutes in Switzerland and a mere 24 hours at Evian in French territory and the marine helicopters were already whoop-whooping their impatience to get their precious cargo across the lake. Within the hour the long-awaited handshake had been made with President Chirac. For those looking for diplomatic signs it was not a bad salutation -- no wet-fish swipe but a cool grip with reasonable eye contact.
These things count in the world where Bush does his business with his fellow leaders. There are rewards for those who are already on-side or need to be kept straight. Tony Blair gets the full-face firm handshake treatment as befits Washington's staunchest ally. In St Petersburg President Vladimir Putin was on the receiving end of a near-bearhug and for the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas there was a good-ol'-boy arm around the shoulder. For King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain there were left and right-cheek-kisses, something denied Chirac, officially because Texans refuse to do cissy greetings but really because Bahrain is a friend and France is anything but one. Look at the gestures and here is a window into the way Bush conducts his foreign policy.
At the end of his six countries in seven days world tour it is clear that Bush's international ideology is pretty straightforward and that it is conducted in shades of black and white. There could be no clearer evidence of Bush's commitment to the G8 than the way he tucked it into the middle of his tour, a stopover between the celebrations in St Petersburg and the hard-knuckled business of chivvying the Israelis and the Palestinians into accepting his road map for peace. Evian was for wimps: the real business was going to be done in eastern Europe, the Jordanian desert and among his own people in sweltering Qatar.
'Read my lips' said Bush Senior as he blundered into the quagmire of broken tax promises. The son has learned that lesson and is more opaque in his dealings. He might use Texan slang to make his point by explaining that he was simply 'riding herd' with Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon but the message he brought to Jordan was loaded with intent. Sharon is too wily a bird to get offside with his biggest ally, while the Palestinian leader is learning what it will be like to be herded into Bush's corral and kept in check by the cowpokes. 'Do as we expect and all will be well. Step out of line and you face the consequences.'
This is 'benign hegemony', the philosophy that underpins US foreign policy in the Bush administration. In the world after September 11 the US has shouldered the responsibility for hunting down and destroying international terrorism, but it cannot do it alone. For all its superpower strength and reach it needs deputies to shoulder the burden, not just because it wants allies to contribute but because it requires friends to stand up, be counted and accept their responsibilities.
At its starkest the policy boils down to the dictum enunciated by defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld that there is no middle ground, that either a country is for the US or it is against it. Period.
In that unforgiving environment there can be no cherry-picking and no prevarication, only single-minded commitment. In return there will be rewards, not crumbs from the rich man's table but a chance to take a seat at it. Putin knows what it is like to be invited as does Poland. While France kept troops out of Operation Iraqi Freedom the Poles sent theirs and have been rewarded with command of one of the post-war administrative areas, a role which gives it the kind of clout that would have been unimaginable just over a decade ago.
Sharon had no option but to take part in the carefully choreographed photocall in Aqaba. His country is in financial freefall and has to use the US as a crutch. Besides, he seems to know the direction of the new wind blowing out of Washington and is prepared to bend with it -- or at least until the latest initiative runs into the sand.
For the Palestinian leader there is even more pressure. Mahmoud Abbas enjoyed his moment in the limelight and warmed to the Bush embrace but the intimacy comes with a hefty price tag. Fail to deliver or step out of line and he will soon find himself on the outside looking in.
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