Quartet Approves PA Government with Hamas - Nathan Guttman
It was the first time the U.S. had supported the idea of a Palestinian government that included Hamas.
Israeli diplomats were surprised by U.S. support for a Hamas-Fatah government. Senior sources in Jerusalem said Israel would not recognize Hamas, nor any organization of which Hamas was a member.
(Jerusalem Post)
Courting Terrorists - Zalman Shoval
[J]oining a coalition with other, more moderate parties, Hitler and his henchmen soon subverted the new government and grabbed absolute power. One important lesson is that whenever a coalition is formed between moderates and anti-democratic extremists, it is only a matter of time until the extremists take over. This is what's probably going to happen soon on the Palestinian political scene, where Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas terrorists have announced the imminent formation of a national unity government.
(Washington Times)
Mubarak's Son Proposes Nuclear Plan - Michael Slackman and Mona El-Naggar
Gamal Mubarak...proposed Tuesday that his country pursue nuclear energy, drawing strong applause from the nation's political elite. Raising the topic of Egypt's nuclear ambitions at a time of heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear activity was seen as a calculated effort to raise the younger Mubarak's profile and to build public support through a show of defiance toward Washington, political analysts and foreign affairs experts said.
(New York Times)
The Pope Was Right - George Weigel
The pope said that irrational violence aimed at innocent men, women, and children "is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the [human] soul." If adherents of certain currents of thought in contemporary Islam insist that the suicide bombing of innocents is an act pleasing to God, then they must be told that they are mistaken.
We know that, in the past, Christians used violence to advance Christian purposes. The Catholic Church has publicly repented of such distortions of the Gospel and has developed a deep theological critique of the misunderstandings that led to such episodes.
By quoting from a robust exchange between a medieval Byzantine emperor and a learned Islamic scholar, Benedict XVI was trying to illustrate the possibility of a tough-minded but rational dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
(Los Angeles Times)
1 comment:
With the Palestinian situation America always walks a fine line. I would have to agree that it will likely end poorly for the Palestinians (except ofcourse for those that support Hamas), but it does not have to be an absolute if the palestinian people fight for a unity government realizing that some moderation is key to getting more of what they want. Unfortunately, part of why we must walk a fine line is also the reason Hamas won the election and Egypt is nor proposing a nuclear future. Aligning with America is seen as anti-arab and anti-muslim. We brought that on ourselves when our President made it clear to the world with his actions, and then again in his race against John Kerry when he tried to protray it as a weakness to want UN approval and world-wide consensus. Unity has never before been seen as a weakness, not in WWI or WWII, nor in the first gulf conflict of 1990-91. The only people foolish enough to believe this cowboy diplomacy came cost free---was this administration. Even the price of oil is because of the instability brought about by our loss of credibility. With our battle resources spread so thin betwen Afghanistan and iraq, the world knows we cannot credibly offer more than token resistance against the threat posed now by Iran, nor can we seem to actually take command of the situation in iraq, so every little ripple sends a shock wave through world oil prices. The recent moderation in prices is only due to the end of summer demand. It is a tragedy that the Palestinian people felt the need to involve Hamas, and I do not think it will work out well for them, but in all the complaining I don't see any discussion of why they felt the need to go that way when they did not start out with a Hamas led government. Or why it makes Egypt's leaders look good to defy America. As for the Pope, we can all stretch until we see something good in almost anything. It is okay to say the Pope made a mistake, in fact it is good to be able to remind the people of the world about one stable thing that has always been great about America---the freedom of speech. It is also okay to say that even if the Pope was misguided , calls for violence over words are always wrong. We might be taken more seriously, and credibly, if we weren't torturing Iraqis, sometimes to death, in the name of saving them from the brutal regime of Saddam. Actions speak louder than words. We teach our children that. Why is it so wrong to act responsibly in front of the world stage?
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