Buckeye Blues

Blair is also under considerable political pressure to look like he’s taking some action to push President Bush toward the role of peacemaker in this crisis. At St. Petersburg, Blair offered to smooth the way for Rice to visit the region. He also calmed down an impatient Bush to resolve the final disputes in the leaders’ joint statement on the crisis.

One recent poll in the U.K. suggests that almost two thirds of British public opinion believes Blair has tied his country too closely to the United States. A similar number thinks that Israel has overreacted to Hizbullah with its military strikes in Lebanon.

To date, Blair’s government has taken the position that the ceasefire needs to be durable and needs to start with Hizbullah ending its rocket attacks on Israel—just like Bush’s position. But if Blair wants to see a peacekeeping force any time soon, he’ll need to go beyond the usual cozy agreement with his friend in the White House. After all, unlike the situation in Iraq (or maybe because of Iraq), both Bush and Blair have ruled out sending their own troops to Lebanon. Can the two allies convince anyone else to commit their soldiers?

© 2006