You Ain’t Seen This Before

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
NYT

President Obama is embarking on something I’ve never seen before — taking on two Missions Impossible at the same time. That is, a simultaneous effort to heal the two most bitter divides in the Middle East: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Shiite-Sunni conflict centered in Iraq. Give him his due. The guy’s got audacity. I’ll provide the hope. But kids, don’t try this at home.

Yet, if by some miracles the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that open in Washington on Thursday do eventually produce a two-state solution, and Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis do succeed in writing their own social contract on how to live together, one might be able to imagine a Middle East that breaks free from the debilitating grip of endless Arab-Israeli wars and autocratic Arab regimes.

President Obama deserves credit for helping to nurture these opportunities. But he, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and the newly elected leaders of Iraq need to now raise their games to a whole new level to seize this moment — or their opponents will.

Precisely because so much is at stake, the forces of intolerance, extreme nationalism and religious obscurantism all over the Middle East will be going all out to make sure that both the Israeli and Iraqi peace processes fail.

(More here.)
You have read this article with the title You Ain’t Seen This Before. You can bookmark this page URL https://ogbcommunity.blogspot.com/2010/09/you-aint-seen-this-before.html. Thanks!

No comment for "You Ain’t Seen This Before"

Post a Comment

Labels

1956 Suez War 1973 War 1st Amendment About the Blog Abraham Abu Dhabi Afghanistan agriculture Ahmadinejad Ahmed Mansour airlines Al-Jazeera Al-Qa‘ida Algeria Alzheimer’s AmeriCorps ancient history Anwar Sadat ANZACs appliance rebate April 15 AQAP Arab League Arab newspapers Arab World Arab-Americans Arab-Israeli Issues Arabic language archaeology Asads Ashraf Marwan atrazine Ausrtralia Ayman Nour back pain Bahrain bailouts bank assets to GDP bank capital bank guarantees bank nationalisation Barack Obama being a patient Berbers bethlehem bias billionaires biodiversity Biography birther blahs Blankfein blog action day blogs and blogging books BP brain cancer brain injury brainless bratwurst breast cancer breast cancer Britain Buckley v. Valeo Budget 2009 bully business Cairo camels cancer cancer bonds cancer cause cancer cure cancer detection cancer diagnosis cancer research cancer risk cancer treatment Capital Flows carbon footprint care giving Catholic Church censorship CEO pay Chamber of Commerce chemo brain chemotherapy child abuse China chlorine Christmas Citizens United Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission climate change climate science clinical trials coal coal power coffeehouse gossip college colon cancer colonialism communication Congress Constellation Brands Constitution coping Copts corporations corruption coups credibility Credit Crunch credit default swaps CSAs Cuba cure death debt debt crisis defense issues deficits democratization derivatives DFL diet diglossia Diplomacy distractions doctor appointments doctor questions doctors Don Gordon donating Double Dip Druze Dubai Earth Day earthquakes East Asia and the Middle East economics Egypt ElBaradei elbow elections emotions energy Eurozone Growth Eurozone Spreads exercises extinction fairness Fallujah fat fatigue FDR Federal Reserve film Finance First World War Fiscal Stimulus food football Fox News France fraud Friday Prayer friends funding Gallo Gamal Mubarak Garrison Keillor Gaza GCC Geopolitics George W. Bush Ghajar Global Imbalances global warming Golden Rule Goldman Sachs GOP government debt Greece Greenland Gulf oil spill Gulf states Haiti Hajj Hamas Hariri head injury healing Health health care health care reform health insurance healthcare healthcare reform healthiness healthy eating healthy living Hebron hedge funds Helen Thomas helping herbicides Herding Hizbullah holidays holy places http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.ghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifif http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif humanity humor Husni Mubarak IDF Imazighen income tax incompetence Indian Ocean inflation information technology injections insider trading insolvency insurance intelligence Internet Iran Iraq Iraq war Ireland Islam Islamophobia Israel Israeli newspapers Israeli politics Italy Japan Jerusalem Jim Klobuchar Jordan Judaism Jundallah Koch Industries Kurdish issues Kuwait Kyrgyzstan labor lack of sleep languages learning Lebanon Leukimia levothyroxine Libya life lists Lung cancer Maghreb Maldives Manas Maronites masters of manipulation Mauritania Mecca media medical costs medical errors medical history medical information medication MEI MEI Annual Conference meltdown metastatic cancer Middle East Journal Middle Eastern Christians military affairs Minnesota Minnesota GreenCorps Minnesota taxes monetary policy Morocco mortality Mossad Motivasi Muhammad Naguib Muqtada al-Sadr music music videos Muslim Brotherhood mzerim n Napa Nasser national anthems NATO needles Netanyahu New Deal New York New Zealand news NFL nitrogen pollution no-fly zone Non Sequitur normal nostalgia Nowruz nuclear crisis nuclear weapons Obama obituaries ocean acidification oil Oman Omar Suleiman oncologist optimism organic output gap ovarian cancer overscheduled pain Pakistan Palestine Palestinian Authority palliative Pat Robertson patient rights patriotism Pawlenty Pays d'Oc pesticides pink washing Pinot Noir Plan B planning PLO politics Pope Shenouda III Portfolios Prediction Markets prescriptions press freedom price of risk procedures prostate cancer prostitution protests Public Debt Qadhafi Qatar Quantitative Easing Qur'an radioactive iodine Ras al-Khaimah Ray McGovern Reagan recalls Recession recommendations recurrence remembrance Republican Party research revolutions Richard B. Parker rock bands royalty Rush Limbaugh Saad Zaghloul Saddam Hussein safety sanity Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Satan Saudi Arabia scars Scott Walker Sectarianism settlements Shi‘ism Shin Bet shipping side effects skepticism Skin cancer sleep social justice social networking solar cells solar energy solar power soy Spare Capacity special operations sphagnum moss sports state budget stem cell Stephen Ross Wine Cellars Sterling Streisand Effect stress Stuxnet succession issues Sudan Summits Sunnis Super Bowl support Supreme Court surgery swimming pool Syria Tamazight Target Corp. Target stores tax cuts taxes teaching televangelism television Territorial disputes terrorism testing The ___ Gulf The UK think tanks thyroid cancer Tifinagh time tired Tom Emmer tourism transportation trauma travel Tulocay Winery Tunisia Turkey UAE UK fiscal policy UK Recession unions United Nations universities university US US Administration US Civil War US military US Presidential Election Utah vacation vegetables Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Veteran's Day video volunteer volunteer work Walid Jumblatt Wall Street water wealth weather Weekend Historical Videos weight loss wellness Western Sahara Wikileaks wine Wisconsin women Woods Hole World War II Yemen YItzhak Rabin young cancer patients Zahi Hawass Zero Bound