Obama's Needs A 'Game Changer' In Middle East: Analysis

Salon:

Trying to figure out what Barack Obama intends to do in the Middle East is like trying to read the leaves in a cup of tea stirred by Jackson Pollock. For every signal Obama has given that he intends to break decisively with Bush's failed approach to the Middle East, he has given another that indicates he plans to simply give the same policies a fresh coat of paint.

Read the whole story: Salon

Comments

[Lloth8]

This article is stupid and unrealistic. First, a Palestinian state is not in the cards given the current state of the Middle East. Palestinian-Israel relations are as bad as they have ever been. And Palestine is divided between the moderate but corrupt and ineffective Fatah and Hamas, whose charter still calls for the destruction of Israel. These factions are strongly opposed, if not in outright war. There is no clear leader and Palestinians could not abide by any agreements even if they wanted to.

And I think his reading of Syria is wrong. Unlike Palestine, it is a well-defined nation state and has an iron-fisted ruler who can make things happen or be blamed if bad things happen. And unlike Jerusalem, the Golan Heights is simply a territorial dispute, not a religious one. It is the far more resolvable track. And if a deal with Syria over the Golan Heights and Lebanon with the Sheeba Farms can be struck, Israel would have peace treaties with all the nations that it shares a border. This would significantly enhance peace prospects in the region.

Kamiya's continuous rhetoric about "confronting" Israel is tiresome. So are his attacks on Sec. Clinton at this late date, saying she is a step backward and comparing her to Condi Rice. A recent CNN poll had Sec. Clinton at a 71% job approval. Guess not many people agree with Mr. Kamiya.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/25/clinton.poll/

[leonel]

Took me a while to think through the hangup with progress on so many issues. Conservatives don't want change in general. Liberals in general are "critical liberals" who seem right on the issue but don't go on to think of how changes can actually be made. The most obvious is drugs. Critical liberals see laws are ridiculous but don't take next step of coming up with "rational pragmatic" steps that can be taken. Action oriented liberals seem to call themselves "progressives" if they are activists or at least active supporters or volunteers, such as having helped Obama or getting involved in all the different issues such as environment, gay, education, poverty, etc. So you can divide liberal tendencies as "critical" or "progressive." Critical liberals are starting to become counter productive. Many of them are journalists or commentators who see themselves as having jobs that just require producing endless critiques of how conservatives and progressives are not doing things right. As very vague examples, in general, CNN and Fox are conservative, ABC, NBC, and CBS are moderate and MSNBC and Link are critical liberals. There are exceptions with some of their shows but I think that they would agree that I am generally accurate in these descriptions. My point is that none of them are very insightful because at best they point out problems and don't suggest solutions. A rational pragmatic outlook is going to develop to explain what progressives are trying to accomplish.

[Rog49Thomas]

The solution is much more simple - but profoundly difficult.

The US needs a ME policy founded on (a) reality and (b) its own national interests.

[Paulo1]

Extremely well written and researched.

The problem of the Middle East is the Israeli Palestinian one by far. It certainly sucks all of the air out of other issues.

Personally I doubt that Obama will do anything quickly. He is busy with the US economy and frankly Israel is a minor side issue compared to resurrecting the country after the Bush Disaster. Eventually he will also have to deal with the albatross of Clinton, shuffling her off on a world tour at State was nice appeasement to her base but is not exactly the smartest thing he has done for world diplomacy. She is not just in over her head she is dangerously incompetent and I shudder in horror at the idea of her meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas in the same room.

The game changer will come when Israel or the Palestinians do something stupid again. Both sides can be relied on to punctually do that. Israel was last with their invasion of Gaza. I imagine the next one will be the Palestinians with some stupid idea like resurrecting the Infitada. Obama just needs to be patient.

[jacobnyc]

Israel attack on Gaza is called self defense, not invasion. Please pull down your blindfold.