There goes any diplomatic clout

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has even remotely followed international affairs over the years to read this op-ed piece in the LA Times:

"As the Bush administration seeks to negotiate a diplomatic end to the fighting in the Middle East, it finds it has a strikingly weak hand.

The war in Iraq, the halting U.S. efforts to respond to the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, and now the fighting in Lebanon and Israel have led to unprecedented levels of anti-Americanism in the Arab world. Alliances with longtime friends are strained, and the U.S. lacks relations with two key regional players: Iran and Syria.

"The Lebanon crisis is the end of the myth that we can tell the world what to do and they'll line up to do it," said Nancy Soderberg, a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration. "They are going to have to do real diplomacy."

Sad, but true, that perhaps the one nation which might have had an influence on the main players in the Middle East has lost its credibility and won't even talk to some of those it should. Read the complete LA Times piece here.

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