Transcending Foreign Policy Tenuous times these: Iraq is aflame. Iran is poised on a nuclear precipice. Danish cartoons enrage a global population. Muslims appear at the forefront of the world’s daily news. Islam presses upon the concerns of an increasingly anxious Western world. A question persistently emerges: What is it that we are to do? The current US administration attempts to promote the sophisticated policy of presenting good Muslim states – those that are moderate and with whom we can do business – and problematic Muslim states – those with whom it is dangerous to treat. The United Arab Emirates is supposed to fall in to the first category. Iran is relegated to the latter. Clever foreign policy this may be, but what reward is granted to the United Arab Emirates for being a good Muslim state if they are tarred publicly with the same brush as Iran and Syria? An attempt to engage in the US port business by a Dubai corporation – a state within the United Arab Emirates – besmirches even the US presidency with suspicion of granting favors to a potential enemy. This subtle US foreign policy is received as too nuanced. Other Western groups demand removal of American troops from Iraq. The hue and cry across the Atlantic trends toward increasing disengagement from Islamic lands. Yielding what? One of the more inflammable neighborhoods in our global city is left in combustible isolation: hardly a formula for enduring stability. Millennium does not advocate disentanglement. Our teams live in the midst of Muslim peoples in 14 countries. We entangle ourselves within these communities, vivifying the reality that West need not be divided from East. At Millennium we live out the belief that deep individual relationships are the basis for transcending the acuity and brutality of even the most expansive foreign policies. James Clark (c) 2006 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 6 no.1. Insight is a publication of MRDS to interpret current events in light of the experience of members of our international network. Insight archives and other information can be found on this website. MRDS Insight may be freely copied with this citation. If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, simply reply and request to be removed. Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007 Tel: (713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 web:www.mrds.org email:insight@mrds.org