Bush Climbs to the Summits
By MICHAEL D. EVANS
Published: August 5, 2007
Author: Dr. Evans is the author of several N.Y. Times Bestsellers including the #1 Bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq.
In his latest bid at high-level problem solving, President George W. Bush has invited representatives of the major industrialized and developing countries to a summit on climate change in Washington the last week of September. The climate meeting will be one of five summits the president is holding between July and late fall.
Bush held a smaller-scale summit with Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, last month in Washington. While their two-day meeting was little more than a formal welcome to the successor of Tony Blair, it did reinforce the special relationship between the two countries, even as Brown was seen as distancing himself from Bush on Iraq by working for a speedier troop withdrawal.
Bush's next bid at summitry takes place this week, when he hosts Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for a strategy discussion on increasing Karzai's control over his country. The two are expected to address the new al-Qaida resurgence, the thriving trade in opium, and Afghanistan's relations with Iran. Bush is expected to pledge to do everything possible to persuade the Taliban to release its Korean hostages.
Next month President Bush will attend a summit on "Security and Prosperity Partnership" in Quebec. He will join Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the trio's third summit since 2005, the State Department says, to “develop common approaches to transnational security threats and to expand economic productivity by streamlining trade among the countries.” Some critics have suggested that these summit meetings are aimed at merging the three nations into a "North American Union" similar to the European Union.
Of course, no round of summitry would be complete without one on the Middle East. On July 16, Bush proposed holding an international conference later this year aimed at restarting peace talks. He said the parley would be "a moment of choice in the Middle East" and administration officials hoped that the leading moderate Arab country, Saudi Arabia, would attend, even though it does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Nobody was really surprised when the Saudis dropped their initiative for a land-for-peace deal between Israel and the Muslim world, apparently fearing an al-Qaida attack or worse – a coup attempt, an Israeli intelligence official said last week. "We estimate the Saudis got cold feet over suspicions of Iran and fears of terror attacks sponsored by Iran and al-Qaida," the official was quoted as saying.
It seems that plans for the last summit of the Bush diplomatic season are running into trouble. Not just the Saudis are reluctant, but the Israelis are, too. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet reportedly moved quickly to limit the scope of intended discussion. The feeling in Israel, still plagued by daily rocket attacks by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, is that it is premature to discuss issues such as borders, let alone the status of Jerusalem, with Palestinians fighting it out between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and former prime minister Ismail Haniya.
"Israel has openly stated that we're willing to talk about issues of 'political horizon' and about how to achieve the vision of two states for two peoples," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Olmert. "But we have been very clear that we are not willing to discuss at this stage the three core issues of borders, refugees, and Jerusalem."
In Damascus, President Bashar Assad at first scoffed at the idea of a summit as a desperate move by Bush for a substantive achievement before leaving office. He graciously let it be known later that Syria would participate if Israel made some concessions in advance, such as giving up the Golan Heights.
For his part, Abbas has stated what he would demand at the summit: immediate talks on a final-status agreement. With the West Bank ruled by Abbas's Fatah and a Hamas-controlled Gaza, Bush's final summit of the season is unlikely to yield him the legacy of peacemaker.
Published: August 5, 2007
Author: Dr. Evans is the author of several N.Y. Times Bestsellers including the #1 Bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq.
In his latest bid at high-level problem solving, President George W. Bush has invited representatives of the major industrialized and developing countries to a summit on climate change in Washington the last week of September. The climate meeting will be one of five summits the president is holding between July and late fall.
Bush held a smaller-scale summit with Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, last month in Washington. While their two-day meeting was little more than a formal welcome to the successor of Tony Blair, it did reinforce the special relationship between the two countries, even as Brown was seen as distancing himself from Bush on Iraq by working for a speedier troop withdrawal.
Bush's next bid at summitry takes place this week, when he hosts Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for a strategy discussion on increasing Karzai's control over his country. The two are expected to address the new al-Qaida resurgence, the thriving trade in opium, and Afghanistan's relations with Iran. Bush is expected to pledge to do everything possible to persuade the Taliban to release its Korean hostages.
Next month President Bush will attend a summit on "Security and Prosperity Partnership" in Quebec. He will join Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the trio's third summit since 2005, the State Department says, to “develop common approaches to transnational security threats and to expand economic productivity by streamlining trade among the countries.” Some critics have suggested that these summit meetings are aimed at merging the three nations into a "North American Union" similar to the European Union.
Of course, no round of summitry would be complete without one on the Middle East. On July 16, Bush proposed holding an international conference later this year aimed at restarting peace talks. He said the parley would be "a moment of choice in the Middle East" and administration officials hoped that the leading moderate Arab country, Saudi Arabia, would attend, even though it does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Nobody was really surprised when the Saudis dropped their initiative for a land-for-peace deal between Israel and the Muslim world, apparently fearing an al-Qaida attack or worse – a coup attempt, an Israeli intelligence official said last week. "We estimate the Saudis got cold feet over suspicions of Iran and fears of terror attacks sponsored by Iran and al-Qaida," the official was quoted as saying.
It seems that plans for the last summit of the Bush diplomatic season are running into trouble. Not just the Saudis are reluctant, but the Israelis are, too. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet reportedly moved quickly to limit the scope of intended discussion. The feeling in Israel, still plagued by daily rocket attacks by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, is that it is premature to discuss issues such as borders, let alone the status of Jerusalem, with Palestinians fighting it out between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and former prime minister Ismail Haniya.
"Israel has openly stated that we're willing to talk about issues of 'political horizon' and about how to achieve the vision of two states for two peoples," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Olmert. "But we have been very clear that we are not willing to discuss at this stage the three core issues of borders, refugees, and Jerusalem."
In Damascus, President Bashar Assad at first scoffed at the idea of a summit as a desperate move by Bush for a substantive achievement before leaving office. He graciously let it be known later that Syria would participate if Israel made some concessions in advance, such as giving up the Golan Heights.
For his part, Abbas has stated what he would demand at the summit: immediate talks on a final-status agreement. With the West Bank ruled by Abbas's Fatah and a Hamas-controlled Gaza, Bush's final summit of the season is unlikely to yield him the legacy of peacemaker.
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