Washington's plans for the political reconstruction of the Middle East are now clear. They involve, says Phil Hearse, removing the governments of Syria and Iran and the political defeat and humiliation of the Palestinians, as well as a permanent US military presence in Iraq. "Democracy' is a key theme of this political-military campaign. George Bush's March demand that all Syrian troops leave Lebanon, capitalising on a growing demand from the Lebanese people themselves, is part of the reactionary offensive the theme of 'democracy' which is now a central part of US foreign policy.
This prospectus Was announced in Bush's January inauguration speech; its aim is simply to maximise the installation of pro-US, neoliberal, governments around the world, while at the same time reaping the propaganda victory of being seen to stand for 'democracy' and popular will.
The *democratic counter-revolution' came just two months ago, when the socalled Orange Revolution' swept the western part of Ukraine, installing Viktor Yushchenko as the new prime HE SECE and kicking out Viktor Yanukovich.
In the Ukraine and around the world this was hailed as the victory of democracy against the post-Soviet autocrats, the corrupt old guard. Ukraine example
Yushchenko's campaign was hugely subsidised by the United States and some European countries using domestic front organisations. The team around him was just as much composed of recycled bureaucrats from the Soviet era was Yanukovich's government; the difference between them was that Yushchenko stood for a pro-Western policy, taking the Ukraine out of the Russian sphere of influence. Both camps in Ukraine stood for neoliberal economic reform, although Yanukovich will probably speed this 4 process.
During the post-election crisis, when Yushchenko supporters massed outside the parliament building in Kiev, the US - in the form of then Secretary of State Colin Powell - openly intervened in the crisis with demands for new elections.
The Ukraine operation, following a similarly successful campaign in Byelorus, reprises an old strategy of trying to seize the leadership of legitimate (and inevitable) movements against dictatorship and for democracy. In each case such campaigns try to marginalise popular movements and the left by making the choice appear to be simply that of defending the old dictatorship, or accepting proAmerican 'democracy. Syrian troops
The demand the Lebanon for the removal of Syrian troops is hugely popular right across the different ethnic and confessional divides. Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976, at the height of the Lebanese civil war, when the Arab nationalist and Palestine Liberation Organisation fighters were on the verge of finally defeating the Christian Maronite militias. Their intervention ensured the right-wing Maronites were not defeated, and that a radical Arab nationalist force did not dominate Lebanon
Through its position in Lebanon, as the force which exercises a controlling influence on politics and the economy, Syria gains huge political and economic advantages, as well as making sure that radical or fundamentalist forces in Lebanon do not call
The mass turnout for the January 30 Iraq elections provides a short-term boost for the Bush regime internationally, but from within Iraq the situation is much less clear. The Shiite Iraqi United Alliance, which won easily the largest share of the vote, did so on the basis of promising to get the United States out. In addition to the damage done to the credibility of the poll by the mass boycott in Sunni areas, only 14% voted for Allawi, the current prime minister and Washington's favourite. All the other proUS forces