Bush Gets The Royal Treatment In The Middle East, But Not From Their Press

George Bush is certainly having a lovely time on his first trip outside the country this year. After visiting the holy sites in Israel, he traveled on in the region, visiting various spots around the tumultuous Middle East. Despite the surroundings of royalty in various kingdoms such as the U.A.E. things remain the same in the fortress that is Bush's mind. Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan can take him to palatial tents in the desert while holding falcons (and photo-shopped lightsabers) and eating like a Sultan and then Bush can give a little speech about his wonderful hosts and the bullshit talk commitment to help find peace in the region, but the press knows better.

No, I'm not talking about the American press, for the most part they just dutifully write down what the Administration tells them (with few exceptions). Since he is in the Middle East, the big news for local media is his visit. The main difference between their media and ours is that while in America the corporate interest trumps all, over there whatever government owns media company X is the dominant interest.

Ironically, CBS did a story on the Arab press and their reactions to Bush and his trip. Of course CBS won't mention their own masters at Viacom, but that must be for another time. As they note, it is interesting to watch Al Jazeera's and Al Arabiyya's focus differ, each one subtly trying to create a narrative that is good for the Qatari and Saudi government respectively.

Bush wants the war in Iraq to continue while pushing for a fight with Iran. Everyone knows this by now so it is sadly a mute point to try and debate if he wants to have more wars. The questionable thing in the Middle East is peace with Israel. That is the biggest question mark in the region and has been since Israel achieved statehood nearly sixty years ago. For the most part, both Israelis and their Arab neighbors see this trip as too little, too late for the American President.

For us, we can't wait until he's gone so we can start rebuilding here at home, but over there, in the scheme of International relations, our power in the region is seen as waning and not just in 2008.