President Obama's Middle East Speech

[YankeeFan]

I'll be curious to hear what he has to say.

Few game-changing proposals are emerging to defuse tensions in the Middle East as a busy week of diplomacy unfolds with President Obama’s address to the region and his meeting with Israel’s prime minister.

Against the backdrop of Middle East uprisings that have intensified animus toward Israel and growing momentum for global recognition of a Palestinian state, American and Israeli officials are struggling to balance national security interests against the need to adapt to a transformative movement in the Arab world.

The White House unveiled a $2 billion multiyear economic aid package for Egypt, which officials say would largely shift existing funds. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel prepared to arrive in Washington with a package that he hoped would shift the burden of restarting the peace process to the Palestinians.

Mr. Obama, who is set to address Americans — and, more significantly, Muslims around the world — from the State Department on Thursday morning, may yet have something surprising up his sleeve. One administration official said that there remained debate about whether Mr. Obama would formally endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state, a move that would send an oratorical signal that the United States expected Israel to make concessions.

But Mr. Obama did not plan to present an American blueprint for peace, White House officials said, and it remained unclear if he would even endorse a Palestinian state on pre-1967 lines, a move opposed, administration officials said, by his chief Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross. Mr. Obama did seek to increase pressure on Syria by imposing largely symbolic sanctions on its leader, President Bashar al-Assad, in the wake of the bloody crackdown there.

White House officials declined to say whether Mr. Obama would go further in Thursday’s speech and call on Mr. Assad to resign

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/world/middleeast/19diplo.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

 

[Dick Whitman]

Handling the Middle East right now is a tricky, tricky situation, isn't it? I couldn't imagine having to navigate that minefield, diplomatically. We're keeping despots in power because they at least tamp down radical Islam. We might be worse off with some of these democracies - like Tunisia. I think The Atlantic euphemistically called it "doctrinal plasticity," i.e. "hypocrisy."

Found it interesting that last time Obama made a big Middle East speech - the Cairo one, I think - he made a big point about how in America, women can wear the hijab without repercussion. What was supposed to resonate as a message about our religious freedom and embrace of Islam instead came off to a lot of young Muslim women as U.S. support for oppression of women, which is what they associate the garment with.

Again, tricky, tricky situation.

 

[CarltonBanks]

I am curious to see if they will bring the styrofoam columns with them.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Handling the Middle East right now is a tricky, tricky situation, isn't it? I couldn't imagine having to navigate that minefield, diplomatically. We're keeping despots in power because they at least tamp down radical Islam. We might be worse off with some of these democracies - like Tunisia. I think The Atlantic euphemistically called it "doctrinal plasticity," i.e. "hypocrisy."

Found it interesting that last time Obama made a big Middle East speech - the Cairo one, I think - he made a big point about how in America, women can wear the hijab without repercussion. What was supposed to resonate as a message about our religious freedom and embrace of Islam instead came off to a lot of young Muslim women as U.S. support for oppression of women, which is what they associate the garment with.

Again, tricky, tricky situation.

When hasn't it been tricky? It's not like this is a new development.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Handling the Middle East right now is a tricky, tricky situation, isn't it? I couldn't imagine having to navigate that minefield, diplomatically. We're keeping despots in power because they at least tamp down radical Islam. We might be worse off with some of these democracies - like Tunisia. I think The Atlantic euphemistically called it "doctrinal plasticity," i.e. "hypocrisy."

Found it interesting that last time Obama made a big Middle East speech - the Cairo one, I think - he made a big point about how in America, women can wear the hijab without repercussion. What was supposed to resonate as a message about our religious freedom and embrace of Islam instead came off to a lot of young Muslim women as U.S. support for oppression of women, which is what they associate the garment with.

Again, tricky, tricky situation.

When hasn't it been tricky? It's not like this is a new development.

Yeah, I know I'm not breaking any news here. I just find the current details of what the administration faces interesting, particularly since the Arab Spring was pretty much universally covered as an exclusively positive development. Diplomacy is one tough nut.

 

[Boom_70]

What makes it tricky in the Middle East is that one size does not fit all. Every country has a different circumstance. How Obama has to treat some countries ends up being a contradiction to how he treats others.

At the end of the day the two large elephants in the room -- Israel and Oil effect everything we say and do.

 

[Dick Whitman]

What makes it tricky in the Middle East is that one size does not fit all. Every country has a different circumstance. How Obama has to treat some countries ends up being a contradiction to how he treats others.

Yeah, this. Boom, did you read the "Atlantic" piece on this in the current issue? Very illuminating.

 

[Boom_70]

What makes it tricky in the Middle East is that one size does not fit all. Every country has a different circumstance. How Obama has to treat some countries ends up being a contradiction to how he treats others.

Yeah, this. Boom, did you read the "Atlantic" piece on this in the current issue? Very illuminating.

No, but did read The Consequentialist in the New Yorker which was very thought provoking.

 

[HejiraHenry]

It's a fine drinking game to take a shot each time he says "I."

 

[KJIM]

Text:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/middleeast/20prexy-text.html

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Boom, you're right, but that's pretty much how international relations goes for all leaders of all countries in their relations with all other countries.

 

[Boom_70]

Boom, you're right, but that's pretty much how international relations goes for all leaders of all countries in their relations with all other countries.

But most leaders do not have the hammer that Obama has at his disposal.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Nice campaign speech by Hillary.

 

[Boom_70]

Proposing Palestinian state based on 1967 accord is pretty ballsy move by Obama.

Would like to be a fly on wall when Netanyahu arrives tomorrow.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Boom, again you are right, but the hammer is in its way also a problem, because as we have learned (I hope to God anyway), U.S. military power is a tool of marginal effectiveness in conducting Middle East foreign policy. It's great for catching bin Laden when we find him. But it can't accomplish many of our goals.

 

[Boom_70]

Boom, again you are right, but the hammer is in its way also a problem, because as we have learned (I hope to God anyway), U.S. military power is a tool of marginal effectiveness in conducting Middle East foreign policy. It's great for catching bin Laden when we find him. But it can't accomplish many of our goals.

Obama seems to want to walk a fine line between realism and idealism.

 

[cranberry]

Boom, again you are right, but the hammer is in its way also a problem, because as we have learned (I hope to God anyway), U.S. military power is a tool of marginal effectiveness in conducting Middle East foreign policy. It's great for catching bin Laden when we find him. But it can't accomplish many of our goals.

Obama seems to want to walk a fine line between realism and idealism.

I believe Robert Kennedy referred to himself as a "pragmatic idealist."

 

[suburbia]

I have religious (and zionist) jewish friends who are outraged by this speech and the idea of giving back yet more land to the Palestinians. They believe (rightly or wrongly) that Obama is anti-Israel, or at least sympathetic to a population that wants Israel destroyed. Obama is certainly not anywhere near as popular in Israel as Bush II was.

I don't know what to believe at this point. I'm not sure if Obama is simply trying to be pragmatic (in a political culture that seldom rewards pragmatism) or if my friends are right and he favors the Palestinians over Israel when American public opinion is the exact opposite.

 

[Pete Wevurski]

I hope it was just an oversight, but ...

Is anyone else concerned that in his rundown of "universal rights," Obama listed three of the five freedoms provided for by the First Amendment -- Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly & Freedom of Religion -- but neglected to include Freedom of Petition and, especially, Freedom of the Press? Just askin'.

 

[Mark McGwire]

Before everyone flips a ****ing nutty... He said 67 borders, with swaps. Not green line. Not red line.

This has been our government's position since Carter at Camp David.