Interesting take on Kerry working on Middle Eastern peace

[karynnj]

This is countering a series of pessimistic articles where the sources of obviously many afraid to move towards change - even as they know the status quo can not remain forever. Here, you need to read through a summary of those negative comments to get to the conclusion.

It is funny how much one summary paragraph reminds me of posts - especially by Tay Tay - that compared him to a weeble toy whose weighed base means it bounces back when pushed.

Here is the link - http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/don-quixote-john-kerry-vs-the-middle-east-s-hysterical-hypochondriacs-of-history.premium-1.525564

here is the conclusion:

He believes in the supposedly moribund two-state solution for the simplistic reason that there is no other option. He continues to view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as A pivotal if not THE critical conflict in the Middle East, despite and perhaps because of the turmoil and mayhem all around. He assumes – simpleminded American that he is - that just because everyone involved knows exactly, but exactly, what the two state solution will look like, logic will eventually prevail and reason will ultimately triumph.

But the only thing that the sides are interested in is not getting blamed for the failure, the experts tell us. Fine, that’s as good a starting point as any: let’s resume peace talks because we don’t want to let Kerry down, and then let’s make some progress just to avoid being fingered as the bad guys, and then perhaps we’ll move forward towards the outlines of an agreement because Kerry is such a nice guy, he’s invested so much time and effort and we don’t want to break his heart.
As Rabbi Judah used to say in the Talmud – if one can paraphrase the learned sage - sometimes one can reach the same objective out of ulterior motives as from true intent.

Kerry may be, as his critics say, a diplomatic Don Quixote of La Mancha, tilting at windmills, fighting the good fight, engaged in a hopeless campaign of which the monotonously tragic end is more than certain. Perhaps he would indeed do better to rest, as Arik Einstein sang and Yonathan Geffen wrote to Miguel de Cervantes’ hero in a popular Israeli song: Sancho Panza is long gone, Dulcinea has grey hair, the knights have all bought pistols and you should be a regular guy, rather than a hero.

But that’s not Kerry, thank god, at least for the time being. “I’m John Kerry, and I’m reporting for duty,” as he told the Democratic National Convention in 2004, even when he isn’t wanted. He gets thrown out the door, and comes back through the bathroom window, as the Beatles sang in his favorite album.

It is interesting that in 2009 when Mitchell also made a very serious effort, there were not these types of stories -- and also none of the stories of small, but not insignificant successes - like the Arab League moving to the position of most of the world - accepting that there must be land swaps - and restoring relations between Turkey and Israel. No one mocked the Mitchell effort or Condi Rice's effort - they just quietly watched them fail. Could it be that the intensity of the Kerry effort is somehow more threatening as - if it gains more steam - will challenge both sides to step up and take risks for a better future.

Everyone knows that finding more peace in Israel/Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan/Pakistan/India are all long shots. What is good is having someone with the courage to risk failing to try to make the world better in the position of power that is the US SoS.

[Cha]

1. thank you, karenVT.. Exactly.

Everyone knows that finding more peace in Israel/Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan/Pakistan/India are all long shots. What is good is having someone with the courage to risk failing to try to make the world better in the position of power that is the US SoS.

[Mass]

2. Thanks Karyn.

I am thankful for Kerry to try. One of the things I like about Kerry is that he is ready to try even though it is not the mainstream idea. This and solving Syria without sending a military armada there. People are suffering. Should we not want to try to alleviate these suffering if this is in our reach.

Remember also that there are domestic policy issues here. Some people would prefer that the issue stays on the back burner because it is not politically sexy and they do have further political ambitions. The common point between Obama, Kerry, Tony Blair, ... is that they are no more seeking elective office either in the close or far future. So, they can spend some political capital on this issue, even if their solutions are not always what people expect.

So, I would not expect much support from the US media, who do not have a lot of critical thinking, or the US politicians, at least those who seek elective office, or experts in the Middle East. If they have said that nothing could be done and something happens, they will be proven wrong. Sadly, people are petty.

What worries me though, is that the time spent on these issues may prevent to see other issues. This is why it is so important that these positions at State are filled. (and preferably by somebody better than Victoria Nuland. Hopefully, she cannot do too much damage in Europe. It is hard for me to see why she was promoted?).