France charts out a new path

Nicolas Sarkozy has made a smart move. He has already begun disassociating France from the increasingly failed policies of the Bush administration in the Middle East.

With only seven months remaining for the Bush White House, Sarkozy seems to be preparing himself for the next US president - be it Barak Obama or John McCain - who will expectedly have a different foreign policy in this region.

Both men have said they would rely on a policy of engagement rather than containment and war used by George W. Bush.

The first sign of a Sarkozy change in policy is his plan to engage Syria, long isolated and shunned by Washington and its European allies, including France during the term of former president Jacques Chirac and in the first few months of Sarkozy's rule.

Paris is now planning to upgrade its ties with Damascus. The announced motive is to encourage Syria to support the Lebanese political and security stability, based on the Doha Agreement, which is supported by both France and Syria.

But engaging Syria cannot be looked separately from France's recent talks with Hamas. Sarkozy seems to want to show that there is an independent French foreign policy in the Middle East that is more realistic and practical than Bush's, and this is good for both France and the Middle East.