"Re-booting" by isolating Hezbollah won't work " unless Obama's main audience is the royal family of Saudi Arabia"

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Robert Dreyfuss in the NATION, here

"....Expect a lot of outside meddling in Lebanon during the next two weeks -- on all sides.....

What's interesting about the Der Spiegel exclusive, if true, is not only that it exonerates Syria, but that it blames Hezbollah. ....

Writing in the Washington Times, former Dick Cheney aide John Hannah, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel thinktank with neoconservative ties, rings every alarm bell he can reach:

Make no mistake: Hezbollah's triumph would constitute a major U.S. defeat. Despite the Obama administration's overtures to Iran, it remains the case that across the Middle East, the battle for Lebanon is understood as part of a much larger struggle for power being waged by Washington and Tehran....

America's view of the Lebanon election is pretty clear. Recently, both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made high-profile visits to Beirut to boost the chances of the Hariri-led coalition. No doubt, pro-American, conservative Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are pouring millions of dollars into the anti-Hezbollah effort, while Iran is doing the same -- along with Syria -- for the other side.....

What's really at stake is not Hezbollah's power and its ability to send dominos toppling, but its international credibility -- and the crucial question of whether the United States will (a) deal with a Hezbollah-controlled government or (b) treat it like Hamas, which was duly elected in the Palestinian territories and then quarantined by the United States......

My guess: if Hezbollah wins, the Obama administration will figure out a way to finesse its dislike of the group, hold its nose, and continue to support the Lebanese government. To the utter consternation of John Hannah, the neoconservatives, the Israel lobby, and Israel's new right-wing government.

Interestingly, the elections come just two days after President Obama delivers a major speech in Cairo aimed at "re-booting" US relations with the Muslim world. Isolating Hezbollah, should it win a free and fair vote -- at least, as free and fair as Lebanon can produce! -- won't help with the rebooting, unless Obama's main audience is the royal family of Saudi Arabia."

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 12:58 PM