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  • Who makes foreign policy in the USA?

    Pelosi has not only visited Assad as a part of "upgrading him" on the international scene. Also has she brought him an Israeli peace offer which he agreed on as basis for soon peace talks. If Bush was even against her visit, does this mean total incoherence in US foreign policy?

    (translated the firts part, the rest is in German)

    "US House president Nancy Pelosi transferred an Israeli peace offer to Syria's president Assad. According to Pelosi, Assad signaled his willingness to negotiations along those lines immediately.

    ...

    Bush claimed she would damage US policy with her visit..."

    Die Präsidentin des US-Repräsentantenhauses, Nancy Pelosi, hat Syriens Präsident Assad ein Angebot Israels zu Friedensgesprächen übermittelt. Pelosi zufolge signalisierte Assad umgehend seine Bereitschaft zu entsprechenden Verhandlungen.

    Damaskus - Die Vorsitzende des US-Repräsentantenhauses, Nancy Pelosi, hat bei ihrem Syrien-Besuch ein Angebot Israels zu Friedensgesprächen übermittelt. Eine entsprechende Botschaft des israelischen Ministerpräsidenten Ehud Olmert habe sie bei ihrem Treffen mit Syriens Präsident Baschar al-Assad überreicht, sagte Pelosi heute in Damaskus. Assad habe ihr gegenüber seine Bereitschaft zu entsprechenden Verhandlungen versichert.

    Die demokratische Spitzenpolitikerin sprach anschließend von einer guten Unterredung. Bei dem Treffen sei es um die Friedensbemühungen im Nahen Osten gegangen. Sie habe auch die Unterstützung Syriens für die radikal-islamische Hamas und Hisbollah angesprochen, sagte Pelosi.

    Pelosi setzte sich als führende US-Oppositionspolitikerin mit ihrem Syrien-Besuch über Kritik von US-Präsident George W. Bush hinweg. Bush hatte Pelosi vorgeworfen, mit ihrer Syrien-Reise der Außenpolitik der USA zu schaden. Der Präsident plädiert für eine Isolierung Syriens wegen dessen angeblicher Unterstützung von Extremisten und anti-demokratischen Kräften in der Region.

    Bush ist gegen Pelosi-Besuch

    Zugleich bekräftigte Bush seine Vorwürfe gegen Syrien, wonach das Land Extremisten finanziere, zu wenig gegen das Eindringen von Aufständischen in den Irak unternehme und die anti-demokratischen Kräfte im Libanon sowie den Palästinensergebieten unterstütze.

    Pelosi wies die Kritik des Weißen Hauses zurück. Ziel des Besuches sei vielmehr, einen Dialog anzukurbeln und Einfluss auf die syrische Politik zu nehmen. Ihre Delegation ist die ranghöchste amerikanische in Syrien seit der Verschlechterung der bilateralen Beziehungen vor vier Jahren.

    Syrische Regierungsvertreter erklärten, die Führung in Damaskus wolle den USA grundsätzlich zu einem "ehrenhaften Rückzug" aus dem Irak verhelfen. Im Gegenzug müsse die US-Regierung aber den Druck auf Israel erhöhen, damit Israel die seit 40 Jahren besetzten Golanhöhen wieder verlasse. In syrischen Staatsmedien wurde der Besuch von Pelosi begrüßt.

    Israels Regierungschef Olmert hatte zuletzt im Dezember erklärt, er wünsche sich Friedensgespräche mit Syrien. Als Bedingung nannte Olmert allerdings, dass Syrien seine Kontakte zu Iran und die Unterstützung für Hamas und Hisbollah beende. Assad hatte wiederholt die Überzeugung geäußert, ohne sein Land sei ein Frieden im Nahen Osten nicht möglich. Israel hatte er deswegen zum Dialog mit Syrien aufgefordert.

    Zuletzt hatte Bush mehrfach US-Außenministerin Condoleezza Rice in den Nahen Osten geschickt, um den Friedensprozess wieder anzukurbeln. Eine Annäherung zwischen Syrien und Israel hatten die Reisen jedoch nicht gebracht.


    Die Präsidentin des US-Repräsentantenhauses, Nancy Pelosi, hat Syriens Präsident Assad ein Angebot Israels zu Friedensgesprächen übermittelt. Pelosi zufolge signalisierte Assad umgehend seine Bereitschaft zu entsprechenden Verhandlungen.

  • #2
    BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6522743.stm

    Pelosi in Damascus

    US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a visit to Syria that has angered the White House.

    President George W Bush has said her visit undermines US foreign policy. Ms Pelosi brushed off criticism, saying dialogue with Syria was key to solving the Iraq and Lebanon crises. A top Syrian official said he welcomed the visit as the start of a dialogue between the two countries but had no illusions about what it could achieve.

    Ms Pelosi sat with President Assad for a photo opportunity at his palace overlooking Damascus before their meeting began. She met earlier with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem and Vice President Faruq al-Shara.

    Ms Pelosi has said she intended to push Syria on its suspected support for Iraqi insurgents and its backing of Islamist militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas. President Bush said Ms Pelosi's trip to Syria sent "mixed signals" that undermined US-led efforts to isolate the Syrian president. The Republican Bush administration has boycotted Syria since the 2005 murder of Lebanon's former PM Rafik Hariri.

    "Photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they're part of the mainstream of the international community, when, in fact, they're a state sponsor of terror," Mr Bush said. Ms Pelosi's office has said that it is worth engaging with "every country that has an interest in avoiding a chaotic Iraq".

    The bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended last year that the US should begin direct talks about Iraq with both Iran and Syria - something the White House has rejected.

    The visit also has a domestic purpose for Ms Pelosi, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington, by showing the Democrats' clear difference with the White House. It causes problems for Mr Bush, our correspondent says, because the Democrats are showing clear differences with the White House, not just over isolating Iran and Syria but also over the conduct of the war in Iraq.

    Both the Senate and the House of Representatives - controlled since November by the Democrats - have recently passed bills setting deadlines for a military withdrawal from Iraq.

    Ms Pelosi is reported to be the highest-ranking US politician to visit Syria since bilateral relations deteriorated in 2003, when the US invaded neighbouring Iraq.

    The US and the European Union have criticised Syria's regional policies and its support for militant groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian movement Hamas. But Syria's deputy foreign minister said it was US policy in the region that fostered these groups. "The mere presence of such forces is a reflection of the wrong policies of the United States," Fayssal Mekdad told the BBC's Kim Ghattas. He welcomed Ms Pelosi's visit, saying "true dialogue is the only way for solving the very grave problems in the region." But he added a note of caution. "We have no illusions that in a first visit of this type with such an administration in the United States we can reach the expected results".

    A UN investigation has implicated Syrian officials in the killing of Mr Hariri, despite a strong denial from Damascus.

    Ms Pelosi has already held talks in Israel, and correspondents say she is expected to transmit Israel's views on the long-stalled Syria-Israel peace track.

    Syria demands the return of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in 1967.

    Comment


    • #3
      Don't most countries make a clear distinction as to who's repsonsible for foreign policy? I was under the impression that in the US foreign policy was a matter fo the executive branch only. Not only Bush a lame duck but the entire US political system?

      Discuss.

      Comment


      • #4
        When the US will have a foreign policy, it is expected to be made by the President.
        Statistical anomaly.
        The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

        Comment


        • #5
          In Germany there's no foreign policy without the parliament, but here the entire parliament has to agree on something before it happens. Parliament's speaker couldn't just travel to another country and initiate peace talks.

          Comment


          • #6
            JEEEEEWWWWWWWSSSS!! And ALLLLLLLLFFFF!!

            But hen Im drunk so I dont know how vlid my oprion counts for
            "Wait a minute..this isn''t FAUX dive, it's just a DIVE!"
            "...Mangy dog staggering about, looking vainly for a place to die."
            "sauna stories? There are no 'sauna stories'.. I mean.. sauna is sauna. You do by the laws of sauna." -P.

            Comment


            • #7
              Parliamentary delegations to other countries are nothing new.
              THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
              AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
              AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
              DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Seeker
                JEEEEEWWWWWWWSSSS!! And ALLLLLLLLFFFF!!

                But hen Im drunk so I dont know how vlid my oprion counts for
                Regarding Bush's foreign policy, your oprion is always vlid.
                Statistical anomaly.
                The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

                Comment


                • #9
                  spsking of jews I've aloways wondered how u mwaasuar the drunkeness of a Purim rebbei is ti by some sort of standard testing mesurment? cloosest religion ever if they mddate drunkeness!!!
                  "Wait a minute..this isn''t FAUX dive, it's just a DIVE!"
                  "...Mangy dog staggering about, looking vainly for a place to die."
                  "sauna stories? There are no 'sauna stories'.. I mean.. sauna is sauna. You do by the laws of sauna." -P.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Where are the mods when you need them...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by LordShiva
                      Parliamentary delegations to other countries are nothing new.
                      We don't have a Parliament, so I'd say its pretty new.
                      I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                      For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by DinoDoc
                        We don't have a Parliament, so I'd say its pretty new.
                        You'd be pretty wrong, obviously.
                        THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
                        AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
                        AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
                        DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          LordShiva, you haven't understood a bit about what's going on here. She went on her own, there was no parliament decision to do this.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by LordShiva
                            You'd be pretty wrong, obviously.
                            One would think we'd have to have a Parliamentary system in order to have a Parliament.
                            I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                            For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              "As recommended by the
                              Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan delegation led by Speaker Pelosi intends to discuss a wide range of security issues affecting the United States and the Middle East with representatives of governments in the region, including
                              Syria."
                              THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
                              AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
                              AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
                              DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

                              Comment

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