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Monday, June 29, 2009 Michael Jackson effect on the Middle EastWith respect to Western policy on the Middle East, the most significant events of the year may not be the Iranian election protests, or the US-Israel spat over settlements, or Palestinian unity or lack thereof. The most significant events may be the bankruptcy of General Motors, the world economic crisis, and the death of Michael Jackson. [more] by Moderator @ June 29, 2009: 06:16 PM CST [Link] [No Comments] Sunday, June 21, 2009 Where is Iran going?Almost anything anyone writes about the Iranian unrest may be true or false, and any predictions are likely to be wrong. The Iranians are now admitting that 13 people were killed yesterday, but CNN and others put the toll at 19-150 (see videos posted there as well). Protests erupted in Shiraz, in Isfahan and elsewhere. Basij thugs seem to be killing people even if they are only onlookers or look like protesters. Tanks had reportedly entered Azzadi Square on Saturday. On Sunday it was reported that Feezah Rafsanjani, daughter of Ayatollah Rafsanjani, and four other family members had been arrested. Iran has also expelled BBC reporter Jon Leyne. We can expect that media reports will be even more circumspect in the future. [more] by Moderator @ June 21, 2009: 05:11 PM CST [Link] [No Comments] Monday, June 15, 2009 Handing Netanyahu a victoryBenjamin Netanyahu's speech (see Address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Begin-Sadat Center should not be viewed in the context of a "peace process" or judged in terms of its relevance to peacemaking. None of the peace-related utterances of Israeli, Palestinian or the Arab or Muslim world are actually directed at making peace, because none of the parties believes in the possibility of peace at this point or has worked to develop, in its own constituency, a concept of peace that might be acceptable to the other side. [more] by Moderator @ June 15, 2009: 06:20 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment] Sunday, June 14, 2009 Iranian elections: It could have been worse!How, you may ask, could the Iranian election results be worse than they are? A virulent demagogue, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been 'elected' in a transparently fraudulent process in which the number of reported votes increased with d in a charming, orderly and improbable linear fashion as the count progressed. Voters found themselves locked out of polling places and protests were crushed with calm efficiency. [more] by Moderator @ June 14, 2009: 10:12 PM CST [Link] [No Comments] Friday, June 5, 2009 El Rais Obama?Those looking for definitive policy statements in Barack Obama's Cairo speech will be mostly disappointed. Barack Obama's Middle East policy is still relatively unformulated or unannounced. If he has a detailed plan for foiling Al-Qaeda, for meeting the challenge posed by Iran and for bringing peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, he has not told us about it. [more] by Moderator @ June 5, 2009: 12:32 AM CST [Link] [No Comments] Saturday, May 30, 2009 Obama, Abbas, Netanyahu: Much ado about nothingThere are a number of more or less mythical narratives floating around about the Middle East today, and these have become rallying points for various groups who advocate this or that position. They generate a great deal of noise, but they are mostly about a virtual reality, not about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US-Israel relations or the problem or Iranian nuclear development. [more] by Moderator @ May 30, 2009: 06:51 PM CST [Link] [2 comments] Friday, May 29, 2009 Book Review: Benny Morris, One State, Two States
Benny Morris
Almost any book about the Middle East by Benny Morris has to be an important book, and this one is both important and timely. The Obama administration is pressing for a "Two State solution" and the Arab states are at least saying they are committed to such a solution. At the same time, there were two conferences dedicated to a "One state solution" or alternative to the "two state solution. One conference was held by right wing Zionists, and one by anti-Zionists, each pushing "solutions" that will basically obliterate the other side. by Moderator @ May 29, 2009: 12:28 AM CST [Link] [1 Comment] Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Israel. USA and the peace initiative: So dumb it has to be smart?Iranians insist that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be Israel's greatest asset, as his antics served to alienate and isolate Iran from the rest of the world. The same, in reverse, may be said for Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, and the Israeli government he represents. Lieberman and the government have done just about everything possible to isolate Israel and to make it impossible for Israel to make even the most obvious points in favor of the urgency of dealing with the Iranian threat and the problematic nature of peace negotiations. It got so bad that Arab commentators must spell out the problems for US and explain the dangers of the US policy toward Iran. [more] by Moderator @ May 13, 2009: 02:39 PM CST [Link] [4 comments] Saturday, April 25, 2009 Iraq: State of denial, again?As the situation in Iraq disintegrated following the U.S. invasion, Bush administration officials famously remained in a "state of denial," insisting that everything was just fine as hundreds of people were bombed into oblivion, aid money disappeared and Iraq sank farther and farther into the mire. [more] by Moderator @ April 25, 2009: 06:46 PM CST [Link] [24 comments] Thursday, April 9, 2009 Lieberman and Annapolis: Reason versus wishful thinkingIsraeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's entry into the world of diplomacy proved what many of us long suspected: He is disastrously unsuited for the post of Foreign Minister. A competent diplomat can pass off inanities as good news, and a skilled one can pass off outrageous policy as acceptable and even desirable.Avigdor Lieberman stated facts that everyone agrees are true, but managed to do it in such a way that the entire world is mad at Israel [more] by Moderator @ April 9, 2009: 10:12 PM CST [Link] [2 comments] Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Israelis without posts to sue Netanyahu Government
[April 1] A group of six irate Israelis are suing the Benjamin Netanyahu government on grounds of gross and unfair discrimination. Said Moishe Miskehn, their representative: It's not fair, why should I be left out? Everyone else is in this government except me. I voted for the Likud. I'm a nice guy and I can count to 10. Why can't I be minister of finance, or at least vice-minister?
by Moderator @ April 1, 2009: 02:38 PM CST [Link] [No Comments]
Monday, March 30, 2009
Last week I wrote (See: Israeli-Palestinian Peace: Youth Show the way) about a joyous event that could give us hope midst the misery of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Amid the gloom of Israeli-Arab strife, someone are finding ways to light candles instead of cursing the darkness. Young Palestinian musicians from the Jenin refugee camp gave a concert for Israeli Holocaust survivors. But someone just had to stomp out the candle as soon as it was lit. [more]
by Moderator @ March 30, 2009: 10:56 PM CST [Link] [No Comments]
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Amid the gloom of Israeli-Arab strife, someone are finding ways to light candles instead of cursing the darkness. Young Palestinian musicians from the Jenin refugee camp gave a concert for Israeli Holocaust survivors. One would think that if such events are so rare -- a dog bites man story -- they would get top billing in media reports. But any routine Qassam rocket launching or Israeli reprisal will always get more notice. For reaching media audiences, shooting is much better than talking or playing music. [more]
by Moderator @ March 26, 2009: 07:01 PM CST [Link] [No Comments]
Thursday, March 19, 2009
All the experts insisted that it would be a cinch for Benjamin Netanyahu to form a right wing coalition government, but it should have been obvious that such a coalition, if it is at all possible, would have an exorbitant price and would be inherently unstable (see: The myth of the right wing bloc). [more]
by Moderator @ March 19, 2009: 10:53 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
The Israeli right got a big free boost recently, when Palestinian Prime Minister Salem Fayyad announced his resignation. Fayyad was certainly an existential, not to say potentially lethal, threat to the settlement enterprise and the supporters of the National Union and Yisrael Beitenu parties, as well as Prime Minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu's program of delaying Palestinian Statehood. [more]
by Moderator @ March 19, 2009: 04:06 PM CST [Link] [5 comments]
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Numerous myths have been generated about the recent Israeli elections. The first myth that is repeated very often is that the rise of the right was due to the recent Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the international reaction to it (see here). There is not much truth in this.
Almost every opinion poll over the last year or so showed approximately the same results as were obtained in the election. No less than seven polls taken in the week before Operation Cast Lead forecast victory for the Likud and the right, giving the Likud 29-36 mandates versus 23-30 for the Kadima party and 9-14 for the Israel Labor party. Not one poll showed the Kadima party getting more votes than the Likud. In the last weeks of the election, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party gained voters at the expense of the Likud and Kadima party. The parties of the so-called "right wing bloc" had the same majority of 65 mandates approximately as they got in the actual election. The only difference was that that there were a few more mandates for Lieberman and a few less for Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud.
by Moderator @ February 21, 2009: 01:53 AM CST [Link] [No Comments]
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