Thursday, October 15, 2009

Peace isn't what Obama is achieving

Rarely has a President bent on change been met with such adverse cirumstances

By Adrian Hamilton
The Independent

".....In the end Obama has been unable to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu in to halting settlement building, the Arab litmus test of the White House's willingness to adopt a more even-handed policy in the region. Worse, over the UN report on Israel's invasion of Gaza and the recent reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah in Egypt, Washington has actively intervened to protect Jerusalem in the one case and to undermine Palestinians' efforts at a unity government in the other.......

One fears, however, that it will be more of the same. It will be the Palestinians not the Israelis who will be pressured into concessions so that Washington can claim progress in a charade that only humiliates the Arab leaders. The screws will be tightened on an Iran which will retreat more and more into its own shell with greater oppression inside and no meaningful progress outside. And America, like Britain, will go on sending troops to Afghanistan with no visible end in sight......"

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