Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Europe's muted voice (The Guardian)

Un riassunto delle posizioni politiche (miei asterischi)
Am.
Europe's muted voice 
Leader
Tuesday July 18, 2006
The Guardian 
Europe's voice has once again been muted and ineffective in responding 
to an international crisis. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy 
chief, flew smartly to Beirut as Israel's offensive in Lebanon escalated 
at the weekend. While he was there the G8 summit in St Petersburg - with 
the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany among the participants 
- failed to call explicitly for an immediate ceasefire, as Kofi Annan 
wanted, demanding only that Israel exercise "restraint". EU foreign 
ministers did a bit better yesterday: they were right to call clearly on 
both Hizbullah and Israel to cease their attacks, but wrong to 
deliberately avoid using the unambiguous word ceasefire.
Diplomatic communiques can seem irrelevant and long-winded when rockets 
are flying and innocents dying. But if words are the currency of 
international relations, their meanings and implications matter. Not 
calling clearly for a truce at once could suggest complicity with what 
Israel is doing and the US is tacitly backing: using overwhelming force 
to defeat or cripple Hizbullah, whatever the consequences for Lebanon or 
the region. Given the humanitarian risks involved - with attacks on 
Beirut and Haifa and children buried under rubble - and a new generation 
of "martyrs" being bred, this is folly.
Israel always fights its wars against the clock, rushing to achieve its 
objectives before pressure for a ceasefire becomes irresistible: Israeli 
military officials suggested yesterday they needed 72 hours more 
fighting. Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, was not 
alone in wondering why the current incumbent, Condi Rice, had not 
already dashed to the Middle East. The likely answer is a spurious 
realpolitik that assumes military means alone can end this conflict. 
That may even be the position of Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers, worried 
about Iran's reckless sponsorship of the Shia Hizbullah to serve its own 
regional goals.
****Europe's position - with Britain and Germany lined up against France 
and several smaller EU countries - matters because it aspires to play a 
role on the world stage, because the Middle East is its own backyard and 
because the area's quarrels can explode on our streets and trains.**** 
It matters too because the Iraq war has badly weakened the influence of 
the US in the region. If a robust multinational security force is now to 
be sent to south Lebanon, European citizens will surely expect their 
governments to play a full role in it. For the moment, they will want to 
know that the EU is not just watching helplessly and letting the US 
dictate vital decisions as fateful, bloody and e

 dictate vital decisions as fateful, bloody and 
and epoch-making events unfold.

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