Steve Walt is a little bit optimistic about Obama’s foreign-policy prospects. Funny money quote: Above all, the biggest mistake Obama could make would be to follow too closely in his predecessor’s footsteps, or to pay too much attention to the…
I thought the speech was OK. I give it a B-. It seemed bookish, aloof. Wasn’t very inspiring. Few breaks for applause. It seemed as if Obama had holed up with a Bible and Lincoln’s speeches over the last three…
John Ging of the UN said Gaza was more disturbing than Rwanda or the Balkans, which he had also witnessed. How could that be? Those conflicts killed so many more people. Rwanda had horrifying scenes. My friend Mohammad, following up…
Obama’s White House is now online. The White House’s foreign-policy agenda begins by vowing “to seek a lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” But then three paragraphs of absolute support for Israel no matter what is very disappointing. Not a…
To her credit, the Times’ hardworking Elisabeth Bumiller got the scoop on George Mitchell being considered as Mid East envoy. Key grafs: He released a report in the spring of 2001, during the early days of the Bush administration, that…
Here Daniel Pipes senses his own growing irrelevance in the new emphasis (good spot, Pipes) on Obama’s Muslim heritage. Here Pipes digs in his heels as he’s banished: “Like many conservatives, I am dazed that an unknown person with a…
Ban Ki-Moon saw the “heartbreaking” devastation in Gaza and expressed anger over apparent war crimes. How long will the west be feckless? From the AP: In the crowd outside the U.N. headquarters in Gaza, engineer Abu Murad Ghaleb, 40, criticized…
Fabulous reporting by Charles Levinson in the Wall Street Journal: “Hamas is now our army, the only ones fighting to defend the Palestinian people,” said Gaza resident Ahmed al-Sultan, standing outside the rubble of the north Gaza City home his…
Do not be confused by the ceasefire, the siege of Gaza continues. From the Israeli human rights organization Gisha (emphasis their’s): On “the day after” the fighting in Gaza, the magnitude of the death and destruction continues to come to…