It was a bad week for the aspiring global hegemonies around US President George W Bush. Not only did virtually all of Washington's closest Middle East allies /— Arab and Israeli alike — reject its efforts to ensure a smooth Arab League endorsement of Saudi Arabia's latest peace proposals, its next target in the war against terrorism, Iraq, was welcomed back into the Arab fold with open arms.

As the week in which Bush had hoped to achieve a cease-fire in the ever escalating struggle between Israel and the Palestinians ended, a new spiral of killing was already underway, with Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers moving into the West Bank and Gaza on Friday in retaliation for the latest Palestinian suicide bombings.

Meanwhile, Europe continued to seethe over the latest manifestations of US unilateralism .

But even as events and actors in the Middle East appeared to spin out of Washington's grasp by week's end, the administration found itself grappling with other problems.

Politically explosive list

The European Union, for example, has drawn up a politically explosive list of US exports that it has targeted for retaliation against the steel tariffs. Highest on the list are major products from states where Bush's Republican party is especially vulnerable in upcoming Congressional elections.

Brussel's action, according to David Broder, one of Washington's most influential political analysts, reflects in part the suddenly widening gap between Europe and Washington over the latter's anti-terrorist goals, particularly its plans on Iraq.

Writing from Rome, Broder, who is not prone to hyperbole, described the Europeans as ''furious'' with the administration and ''ready to fight back''.

Even at home, things suddenly appear a lot more difficult for the hawks, and not only because the military has begun squawking about over-extension.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is so divided over which Iraqi exile groups to back in any future effort to topple Saddam Hussein, that the State Department is withholding or delaying the approval of visas for the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC) to take part in a major INC meeting here, scheduled for next month. (IPS)