Tag Archives: Middle East

Obama in power (11): Hope’s prize

Posted on October 9, 2009 | 7 Comments

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has not done either President Obama or itself any favours by awarding him this year’s prize. It’s an award for promise rather than achievement. Read the citation and it sounds pretty much like saying, ‘We award the prize to the most popular man in the world because we like his views.’ Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, Power

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As Obama opens doors to the Muslim world, will Europe close them?

Posted on June 22, 2009 | 1 Comment

President Obama’s 4th June speech in Cairo about relations with the Islamic world rightly got huge plaudits, including here. It doesn’t solve all problems but doors are open for new dialogue, policies and approaches. But as Washington wins credit and credibility through expressions of openness and respect and heads towards better links with the Muslim world, is Europe moving the opposite way? Continue reading →

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Obama in power (10): Cairo – brilliant speech but that awkward question persists

Posted on June 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

President Obama’s speech in Cairo on 4 June offers further evidence of his unrivalled communication skills and of his will and capacity to address thorny issues by reframing and reshaping them in a way that offers new openings for change and improvement. As an opening to the Muslim world, is it possible to imagine an American president doing better given the realities in which he works? For many of the issues he raised, the question is if interlocutors and counterparts will step forward able to use the opportunities he is creating. And over Israel and Palestine, that is a familiar and awkward question. Continue reading →

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Obama in power (9): To strengthen peace in the Middle East, the first big step is in the US

Posted on June 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

It’s a big week for US policy and the Middle East, a defining moment for the Obama administration’s impact. What happens this week will not alone be enough to achieve regional cooperation with the US on peace and security but, if it goes wrong, that will be enough to make that cooperation next to impossible for several years again.  Continue reading →

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Obama in power (8): the real challenge is Israel-Palestine, not North Korea

Posted on May 27, 2009 | 2 Comments

Just as Obama was getting his presidential teeth into the Israel-Palestine issue – with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week and Obama’s Middle East tour next – North Korea goes and finds a window in his crowded timetable, forcing itself on his attention with a nuclear test and missile firings. But, although things can go horribly wrong, North Korea presents a much more straightforward problem than Israel-Palestine and the wider Middle East. Continue reading →

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Obama in power (6):policies clarifying, pattern still hazy

Posted on April 16, 2009 | 3 Comments

By the time Obama was inaugurated, he had promised so much, there was a risk that he could only disappoint. Let’s not get too carried away in these tough times, but there is some much needed good news: perfect his administration is not, but the first signs in foreign policy are far from negative. This extended post surveys the key issues. Continue reading →

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Posted in Climate change, Conflict & peace, Power, The economic crunch

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Obama in power (3): Iraq – not as clear as it first seems

Posted on March 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

Speaking last Friday at the US Marine Corps Camp Lejeune base in North Carolina President Obama announced a big reduction in US troop numbers in Iraq from 142,000 down to 50,000 by August next year, with all US forces out by the end of 2011. So he has made his intentions clear. Or has he?

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The special significance of the Israel-Palestine conflict

Posted on February 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

Why is it that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians generates such intense feelings among so many people? It goes deeper and spreads more widely than virtually any other current political issue. People who have no personal stake  – no relatives in any part of Israel and Palestine, for example – express themselves on this conflict with genuine feelings of grief and anger, where other conflicts provoke only a more general humanitarian response or concern for the unjustly treated. What’s special about Israel-Palestine? Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace

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Gaza, criticising Israel and Howard Jacobson

Posted on February 22, 2009 | 2 Comments

The three-week offensive Israel launched on Gaza on 27 December has predictably led to a re-airing of the argument about whether and to what degree it is possible to criticise Israel without being anti-Semitic. This is the conflict that receives more coverage and more passion than any other in today’s world and how the arguments about it are handled is important in the evolution of our political culture. This post goes into this treacherous subject at some length.
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Posted in Conflict & peace

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Israel’s motives in Gaza

Posted on February 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

Why did Israel launch its offensive on Gaza on 27 December? Little is clear and as always there are competing accounts and interpretations, with even more confusion and argument over its degree of success or failure. Continue reading →

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