WHEN EVEN THE FRENCH CAN FIGURE IT OUT:

Building axis of good (Alexandre Adler, 6/27/07, Le Figaro)

Our job as journalists requires us to talk not too much about trains running on time but, rather, about the ones that come off the rails. A Middle East specialist is never short of copy when it comes to describing successive human disasters, glowering horizons, and car bombs exploding with fearsome effectiveness. But apart from this sad record, there is also everything that does work, following the accumulation of tribulations at the start of this 21st century: these states, however weak, that have remained standing; the sometimes problematical coalitions that have been established to avert the irreparable; and above all the men of moderation and real - not apocalyptic - vision that have continued to influence the course of events for the better. Together, these forces are now starting to come together to form a kind of "axis of good" whose impact could indeed bring great benefits soon.

We will try to list these various virtuous circles that have gradually become established in the Middle East, in chronological order of their emergence: [...]

2 - The emergence of the new Shi'i government in Baghdad in 2003. Though the United States was entirely mistaken in imagining that this government would remain independent of the theocracy in Tehran, the fact remains that successive Iraqi Governments, including the present one, represent, compared to those in Tehran, a very definite shift towards moderation and dialogue with the West. Individuals such as Grand Ayatollah Sistani exercise some influence over Iran's major dignitaries and consequently over the pragmatic and moderate camp in Tehran. Though the Shi'is have been unable to halt the war of religion being waged on them by the Sunni extremists backed by Al-Qa'idah, they have proved impossible to shift from 60 per cent of Iraqi territory, and the destabilization efforts conducted by Ahmadinezhad's fundamentalist clan, implemented on the ground by Muqtada al-Sadr, have been checked hitherto.

[6] The French turn towards the Anglo-American model.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 2, 2007 6:29 AM