THE anti terrorism summit at Sharm el Sheikh last month, which the White House organised and some 30 foreign heads of government attended, may have been designed to help President Clinton win the November election. As the late Tip O'Neill famously remarked, "All politics are local".
It is part of the White House game plan to make the President look strong against Bob Dole, the old soldier who will be 73 in July.
Meanwhile, William Perry, the US Secretary of Defence, is threatening to follow Ronald Reagan's example by bombing Libya because of a chemical weapons plant he says is under a mountain in Tripoli.
The New York Times in an editorial said: "President Clinton demonstrated statesmanship and strong leadership by arranging the summit meeting so swiftly and keeping it focused on the urgent issues that confront Israel. In Jerusalem he added substance to the summit's symbolism by pledging $100 million (£64 1/2 million) in American assistance for anti terrorist tools and training."
Cynicism apart, "the anti terrorism summit" may have had more to do with US electoral politics than achieving peace in the Middle East. The latter will be a bonus when it happens, but few expect it to happen soon.
We now have evidence that Mr Clinton kept his own re election up front during a five minute private talk during the summit with Boris Yeltsin.
The FBI is investigating how a transcript of their conversation reached the Washington Times.
According to the "secret" three page document, Mr Yeltsin asked Mr Clinton to help his campaign, and the US President promised to create a "positive impact" on US Soviet relations, whatever that means.
It happens that about 40 per cent of US poultry exports to Russia are from Arkansas, Mr Clinton told Mr Yeltsin. It was unnecessary to add that Arkansas is the home state of the President or that one third of US exports to Russia are chicken parts supplied by Tyson Foods of Arkansas major financial backers of Mr Clinton.
The puzzle is why the US President would discuss the price of chicken parts with his Russian counterpart at a summit of 30 states allegedly devoted to putting down terrorism. The US Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, also asked Mr Yeltsin about the tariff barrier to US chicken parts.
One matter to be resolved, according to the Ned York Times, was the Russian tariffs which "have gone up 50 per cent to protect domestic producers The market is worth 1500 million a year to the US.
Tyson Foods of Arkansas exports $170 million to $180 million worth of food to Russia annually. Mike McCurry, the White House Press Secretary, called the Washington Times's interpretation of the Clinton Yeltsin conversation "inaccurate".
"In a time when there are presidential elections under way in both the Russian Federation and the US, it was important to manage issues in our bilateral relationship so that they would have a positive impact on the relationship and not a negative impact.
Mr Clinton allegedly told Mr Yeltsin, according to Mr McCurry.
Mr Yeltsin asked Mr Clinton for direct support and said "thought should be given to how to do that wisely". Mr Clinton laid he wanted to be sure "everything the US did would have a positive impact and nothing should have a negative impact (and) that the two sides should not do anything that would harm the other. Things could come up between now and the elections in Russia and the US which could cause conflicts."
Three Republican chairmen of the House of Representatives, Ben Gilman, Henry Hyde and William F. Clinger, thought the Clinton Yeltsin relationship too self serving and said as much on Tuesday. Next day the White House released a letter, signed by Mr Dole and 38 Senators, Republican and Democratic, urging Mickey Kantor, the US Trade Representative, to seek the removal of "this unfair and unjustified (Russian) trade barrier." That left the House chairmen out on a limb.
And so Mr Dole lost another round to Mr Clinton.