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Peace in Someone Else’s Time

What Annapolis is about, IMHO, at Pajamas.  It’s a Kumbaya thing, it’s a divide-and-conquer thing. It’s about making new friends and isolating old enemies. It’s a build, which might make it one of the more practical Mideast peace moves since Egypt and Jordan figured out which side of the pita had the humus on it. Someday, it might amount to something.

Other Mideast talk takes: 

Ha’aretz: “Nine reasons Annapolis will succeed.” Bitterly hilarious must-read.

NPR: New Bush push, Arab give is all about Iran.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Last-ditch efforts to agree on something in advance of talks.

AFP: Syria says US Meeting must aim for comprehensive peace.

Globe & Mail: Syria comes in from the cold, adds cred.

Jerusalem Post, quoting official Syrian press: “Syria will foil Olmert’s plan.”

Asia Times: Iran, the uninvited guest.

Reuters: Khamenei, talks “doomed to failure.”

AFP: A’jad to Arabs, “be watchful in the face of the plots and deception of the Zionist enemy.”

AP: College town gets a history lesson.  Army gets a chance to stage pre-game pranks in real world security environment.

Speaking of history and real world security environments, NYT with “Rice’s turnabout on Mideast Peace Talks.”

Meanwhile, related but different at WSJ, interesting read from Hoover Institute’s  Shelby Steele, “Obama is right on Iran.” He posits direct talks with A’jad as a seizing of the moral high ground after which war remains an option.  That’s more or less what Friedman said.  It’s about balance of power in the region and the world, says Steele.  I’d say its about balance of power here at home.  Talk’s fine, but it means nothing if you won’t back it up with a credible threat of force. Extremely credible, in the case of never-yet-challenged Iran. 

Back on topic, highlights of Stratfor’s Annapolis take follows. Stratfor is a premium site but you can get your guest pass here:

… Peace in the Middle East is unlikely to unfold at Annapolis, but it is significant that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad will be there to see it not unfold …

This is worth noting. The Saudis do not go to such conferences; they tend to give advice from the sidelines …

… Saudi Arabia has become increasingly concerned that American weakness, resulting from the Iraq war, might create a power vacuum in the region …

The second motive has to do with Iran … 

In this context, the decision by the Syrians to attend is important. The Saudis undoubtedly leaned on them heavily. The Syrians have been close to the Iranians, in a complex and not always easy relationship …  by coming to Annapolis, the Syrians have also opened a door to the United States and the Saudis.

… Annapolis, therefore, is becoming less about Israelis and Palestinians, and more about alignments in the Arab world.

Because of this, the conference could turn out to be more important than observers believe …

Topics: Israel, Palestinians, middle east

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:12 am on Monday, November 26, 2007

4 Responses to “Peace in Someone Else’s Time”

1. The Thunder Run Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 11:03 am

   Web Reconnaissance for 11/26/2007

   A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…

2. RebeccaH Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

   … Annapolis, therefore, is becoming less about Israelis and Palestinians, and more about alignments in the Arab world.

   Because of this, the conference could turn out to be more important than observers believe …

   Let’s hope this is the case. There’s nothing I’d like better than for the world to stop obsessing over the evil Israelis and the poor put-upon Palestinians.

3. Michael Lonie Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

   Annapolis won’t cause that Rebecca. Annapolis is suppsed to be a chance for the US to earn brownie points with Arab thugs by twisting Israel’s arm into adopting policies that bring Israel’s destruction that much closer, and will not result in any benefits for the USA.

   When Arabs and Musims say “Peace in the Middle East” what they mean is the destruction of Israel and the genocide of its Jewish inhabitants. When they whine for “American evenhandedness” what they mean is that we should help them do this. Anything short of a stab in the back a la South Vietnam ca. 1974 will be judged inadequate “evenhandedness”. And if we did gratify these genocidal thugs, we would get no credit, only a deserved contempt for ratting on our friends.

   The Conventional Wisdom of the foreign policy elites in the USA is to armtwist Israel and appease the Arabs and Iranians. With the Bush Administration sunk in exhaustion, so that all it has the energy to do is continue the Iraq Campaign for as long as it can, the CW of the elites is rising to the top again (as Bernard Wooley commented in an episode of “Yes, Prime Minister” it’s not just cream that rises to the top). Thus we have the CW of the elites: help your enemies and hurt your friends. If they actually wanted to make progress they would not have invited 45 countries, each of whom can put in his oar and mess up the proceedings. This is a plan for failure or Israeli and American humiliation and disaster.

4. Reactions To Annapolis « Nice Deb Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 11:24 am

   [...] Jules Crittenden: Peace In Someone else’s Time  [...]

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