[lbo-talk] Careful what you Bush for

[oudeis]

The dog that did not bark at the Democratic Party's convention was
opposition to the Iraq war. To the chagrin of the Europeans, who
oppose the war by vast margins, the Democratic leadership all but
muzzled opponents of a war. The battle will be fought on Bush's
ground.

[...]
In his own unassuming fashion, Bush is a world-historical figure in
Georg Hegel's sense of the term - never mind that he does not know who
Hegel was. A more thoughtful man would recoil in horror at the choices
before him and fade into paralysis, like the unfortunate president
James Buchanan in 1859.

[...]
Bush thinks he needs Putin to prove his strategy right before the
American electorate, but Putin will do so precisely because US
strategy in the region is dead wrong. Washington believes that
stabilizing Iraq will stabilize the entire region: Moscow knows that
the Iraq war already has destabilized the region. In the 21st century
version of the Great Game, Russia's winning chess move is to replace
Turkey as the dominant power in Central Asia.

[...]
Those are the characters in the next act of the tragedy, and their
motivations. The role of tragic lead falls to George W Bush, who will
be re-elected and regret it.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FH03Aa02.html