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…
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…
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…
From Phil Weiss: Last night I posted a comment by my new friend Mohammad on Gaza in which he called it “genocide.” I felt somewhat uncomfortable with the word, but I am trying to get this blog open to Muslim/Arab…
Whatever Barack Obama is or isn’t, a mystery we will get to unfold for many years, we know who George Bush is: a tragic figure. Look at him now. He’s crumpled, thin, gray, and angry. I remember him eight years…
This morning on NPR, Juan Williams of the Washington Post made the smart observation that Obama’s elevation firmly ends the era in which black politicians were presumed to be spokesmen for their race. They are now strictly professional pols who…
Watch this. It is a beautiful video called Numu Numu, an Israeli lullaby, set to pictures of Israeli might and Palestinian destruction. Found on a blog of Hadash supporters (an Arab-Jewish party), it is old but perfect for now. The…