SWITZERLAND

Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Lucerne, Feb. 27: For U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell the Middle East trip that ended yesterday in Syria must have been sobering. Ten years ago, as the widely respected chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, he had good, often personal relations with most of the Middle East heads of state. This time, however, a cold wind blew in his face -- and in that of the United States.
Even one of the formerly closest allies, Egyptian President Hosni Mu barak, openly showed his rejection of U.S. military attacks and the boycott against Iraq as well as an inadequate U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Balancing act: The new U.S. administration is attempting a balancing act that can scarcely succeed. On the one hand, Washington is demonstrating little initiative or new ideas that can get the stalled peace process back on track. On the other, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been supplanted at the top of the U.S. list of priorities by the battle against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But Powell's attempt to forge an Arab alliance against the Iraqi dictator as existed 10 years ago has failed.
No wonder. The Arab people have long since stopped seeing Saddam as a threat. On the contrary. The unscrupulous ruler in Baghdad can increasingly portray himself as the Arab spearhead against the unloved world power -- the United States.
BRITAIN
The Daily Telegraph, London, Feb. 27: The Irish Foreign Minister, Brian Cowen, arrives in Washington today. He should be subjected to some tough questioning by the Bush administration. Why? Because one of the best kept secrets in the world has been the consistently anti-American undercurrent in Irish foreign policy.
Only last week, Mr. Cowen's department again manifested neutralism between democracy and tyranny, failing to support the American-led action in Iraq and regretting "very much the use of force was deemed necessary and is concerned that every step be taken to avoid its future use." Mr. Cowen has also been distinctly sniffy about Mr. Bush's ideas for National Missile Defense, fretting unhelpfully about the ABM Treaty following a meeting with his Russian counterpart.
Trifling importance: Perhaps none of this matters very much in Washington. By any measurement of power, Ireland is of trifling importance compared with the United Kingdom: in 1999, their populations were nearly 4 million and 60 million, respectively; the GDPs were $ 87 billion and $1.4 trillion apiece. But the Irish state has pretensions to a wider role, as exemplified by its recent accession to the U.N. Security Council. These pretensions were indulged by President Clinton -- who lavished preposterous amounts of precious presidential time on the Northern Ireland issue.
The Bush administration should effectively tell them that the pan-nationalist front's free lunch in Washington is over.
JORDAN
The Jordan Times, Amman, Feb. 28: Regardless of the new talk of "smart sanctions," the message that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell carried on his regional tour this weekend and that he spelled out in Kuwait on Monday was that America wanted Arab support for tightening the screws on the leadership in Baghdad.
There is obviously a personal feeling that Iraq is "unfinished business" among the old-new strongmen who are now back in Washington: Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and James Baker can in no way pat themselves on the back when 10 years after they showered Iraq with an unprecedented amount of depleted uranium weaponry, President Saddam Hussein is still firmly in power.
Popular sympathy: It is difficult, after 10 years, to imagine that the Arab street will accept anything less than a complete lifting of all sanctions against Iraq. And certainly it would not be prudent for Arab rulers to ignore the deep popular sympathy for the Iraqis, especially now that the collective Arab soul is incensed by the Israeli massacre in Palestine.
Whatever you call it and whatever it is, something that kills one million children, women and men does not need to be changed: It needs to be stopped."