Negotiation

Last week President Bush touched off a media firestorm which is sure to rear its head again this fall. He lambasted “appeasers” who “believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.''

Ironically Bush uttered these words in Israel, a country that is currently doing the very things he was condemning. The Israelis are indirectly negotiating with Syria (through Turkey) and Hamas (through Egypt). The Syrians are state-sponsors of terrorism; they give money, training and sanctuary to both Hamas and Hezbollah, and are strongly suspected of being behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese President Rafik Hariri. Meanwhile, Hamas – who violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007- indiscriminately fire missiles onto southern Israel and are responsible for innumerable suicide bombings.

Let’s put aside for the moment issues like the correctness of criticizing from abroad (personally I don’t really care) or whether an outgoing President should inject himself into the new Presidential campaign (Bush’s comments were –at least in part- a shot at Obama after all). The President is speaking to a fundamental issue regarding our way forward in the Middle East and the fight against terrorism.

There are those who compare negotiating with terrorists and their state sponsors to Neville Chamberlain’s naïve 1938 dealings with Hitler. Hitler very clearly spelled out his intentions in Mein Kampf and letting the Germans take hold of the Sudetenland was futile. In no way did it stop the Nazis from carrying out the rest of their agenda.

Like Hitler Iranian President Ahmedinejad has made in very clear what he wants to do: acquire nukes and “wipe Israel off the face of the map.” Consequently, negotiating with Iran would be an act in futility as well.

The other side of the coin is that diplomacy and appeasment are not the same. We lose nothing by sitting down to talk with our enemies. We negotiated many times with the Soviet Union (even under Ronald Reagan) and under Bush's watch have done so with Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

I have to say that I’m more inclined to talk with no preconditions (with nation states, not terrorists nor any other non-State entities). However, deep down I harbor doubts that this indeed may be naïve, and I do think we should be very careful in what and how we negotiate. Here are two good op-eds from the New York Times on the issue: Yes, We Should ------ No, We Should Not
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For an excellent read I highly recommend The Shia Revival, by Vali Nasr. It’s a real eye opening book that summarizes the split between Sunnis and Shia and their history of relations. But the crux of the book is about the sectarian conflict(s) unleashed by the War in Iraq, why they came about, and why they are so important, not just to Iraq, but to the entire region.

Whither Obama

Back to domestic politics. I’m not thrilled with any of the Presidential hopefuls, but then again I’m a cynic.

It now appears that Obama is a few steps away from securing the Democratic Presidential nomination. Now, when Obama speaks he moves me, he really does. Next to him any other politician seems like flat soda; and I agree with most of his policies.

And yet… I don’t think he’s adequately explained the Reverend Wright fiasco. (By the way, the reverend’s latest ramblings are pretty comical, really: By criticizing Wright’s inflammatory sermons people are criticizing the black church. Criticizing the black church is the same as “talking about his mother,” and if you think Wright’ll let anybody talk about his mother, “you’ve got another thing coming.” -- That's literally what he said, watch it on YouTube)

Obama has since (rightfully) disowned him, nevertheless by Obama's own admission Wright has been a very influential figure in his life. How exactly so? How has he influenced his thinking? Where exactly does he agree and disagree with him? There are many churches that do community service without the whole “God Damn America” thing (and in his sermon he said “America,” not “the U.S. government of 1847 that did _X_," give me a break) or the rhetoric about the government being responsible for the AIDS virus. Why did he stay at Trinity Baptist all this time?

Why did he stick with Wright for so long, and even have him baptize his children? Lately Obama supporters have been portraying Wright as a “crazy uncle.” However crazy he may be, he was Obama's “uncle” by choice, not by blood.

What else worries me is Obama’s (lack of) experience. Yes, he is very intelligent, but at the end of the day he’s a first term senator and has basically been campaigning for President since he arrived in the Senate.

He’s going to need someone with a lot of experience for VP (Richardson, anyone?) which brings us to the proposed Barack-Hillary ticket. There is a better chance of Osama Bin Laden converting to Judaism than Hillary being Obama’s VP candidate.

All this talk of how Hillary can pull in white working class votes is utter nonsense. Yes, she can do that in Democratic primaries against a black man with a Muslim name. But that does NOT mean she can do it in a general election against John McCain.

She’s one of the most divisive figures in America. A very conservative friend of my father’s registered as a democrat in the New Jersey primary solely to vote AGAINST Hillary. Ask yourself, would any other politician inspire this much revulsion?

She's battle hardened and has survived everything the Republicans have attacked with? I would bet you all the money in my bank account that for years Republicans have been collecting everything they can about her and just waiting until she's the candidate. They have files full of scandals and circumstantial evidence of anything and everything. Lying about dodging sniper fire won't be anything. Hillary coming anywhere near the Democratic ticket would be the best thing that could possibly happen to the Republican party since Ronald Reagan.

Moreover, do you think Obama wants Bill meddling in his campaign?
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With all that said, I just cannot see Obama winning come November. I’m no fan of McCain either but I’ll post about him another time.