Monday, July 22, 2013

Foreign Policy

Great description of Mideast peace talks.
"Here we go again, another round of Mideast peace talk kabuki.
A process in which Washington, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization hold intense talks over holding talks, a ritual as stylized as the traditional Japanese dance. In the end, it’s the same empty, cynical ritual, year after year."
None of the participants want peace because they all profit from conflict.
"Israel holds all the cards, and knows it. Jewish settlements, roads, and security walls are roaring ahead, relentlessly gobbling up the occupied West Bank, Golan and their water resources. West Bank Palestinians are being crammed into future native Bantustans patterned after South Africa’s apartheid-era reservations for blacks." 
Apartheid eventually collapsed in South Africa, so there's hope, but I'm not aware of a black South African group that profited from apartheid the way Hamas profits from conflict with Israel. Maybe Bushed pushed for Palestinian elections to promote Hamas and institutionalize the status quo.

More cynicism about the Mideast peace charade.
"The political peddlers, think-tank experts and media professionals are all back in full force. They want us to believe that US Secretary of State John Kerry has done what others have failed to do. On his sixth trip to the Middle East during his post, and following intense shuttle diplomacy likened to that of Henry Kissinger, Kerry managed to create a modest common space between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA), thus securing their agreement to resume the so-called peace process. "
This sounds like they're trying to boost Obama's poll numbers, and it boosts Kerry relative to Clinton too.

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