January 30, 2004
TRIANGULATION IS BACK!:
Why the White House is pushing Cyprus solution: US sees reunification there as a model for Iraq and a way to mend ties with Europe. (Howard LaFranchi, 1/30/04, CS Monitor)
A US-promoted deal to reunify Cyprus would allow a united island to enter the European Union on May 1, and would open the door to an Islamic Turkey eventually joining the EU. But beyond that, experts say, sudden US interest in Cyprus exemplifies the administration's desire to show its "we're-all-in-this-together" side in the post-Iraq-war period. It also suggests the weight the White House places on ties with Turkey as a key to stability and reform in the Middle East."Turkey, Cyprus, and Iraq are related in a triangulated way that absolutely makes Cyprus a priority for the US because you're hitting the same nationalist and divided-community issues that are factors in Iraq," says Carole O'Leary, a Middle East expert at American University in Washington. "People are well aware that a reunification of Cyprus as a federal state would quickly be seen as a precedent for Iraq."
Apparently, Northern Ireland is the only decades long conflict that the Administration isn't on the verge of settling.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 30, 2004 07:28 AM
...but with his longstanding and deep Irish roots and loves of his forebearers' native land, John Kerry will quickly be able to settl...oh wait a minute, I forgot JFK's ancestorial blood lines are actually closer to Joe Lieberman's than to Ted Kennedy's (well, for now anyway).
Posted by: John at January 30, 2004 12:20 PMIf Bush could settle the "Irish Problem" as well as Cyprus, Afghanistan and Iraq, he might just test whether he can walk on water.
... although if he succeeded in that the headlines the next day would be that he can't swim.