The George W Bush administration's failure in rolling back Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon pales in comparison with the withering away of its Arab-Israeli "peace process". Time and again during Bush's recent Middle East tour, what emerged was the palpable sense that the US has been all but marginalized from a new Middle East that is taking shape. And now China, too, has appeared on the region's chessboard. - M K Bhadrakumar (May 20, '08)