Conflict Blotter

Sometimes Wikipedia nails it. This is from the entry on the Annapolis peace conference:
Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is organizing the event, which will be more than a photo op.

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Egypt, facing a $200 million cut in US aid, blames Israeli soldiers for cooperating with smugglers bringing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian document distributed in Congress asserts that Israeli soldiers cooperate with smugglers in allowing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian document was circulated among congressmen by […]

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Foreign policy heavyweights put in their ten cents on the Annapolis peace conference in this open letter to Condi and Bush titled “Because failure risks devastating consequences.” The parameters  suggested by the letter’s signatories have become so obvious that they hardly merit mentioning in this post and that is a testament to the fact […]

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To mark Condi’s seventh trip to the region this year, I’m going to jot down some thoughts on the nascent peace process and the Annapolis confererence slated for late November or December. First, people still aren’t taking this very seriously by and large, despite Condi’s warnings to journalists on Monday. Palestinians, Israelis, journalists, etc, tend […]

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Daniel Levy’s review of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer book on the Israel lobby is posted on his blog Prospects for Peace. It’s the most thoughtful, measured, knowledgable, and, in my opinion, spot-on response to the book I’ve yet seen. Here’s how Levy himself summarizes his position, but the whole peice is a must […]

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Ever since John Bolton first leaked the North Korea nuclear connection to Israel’s air strike in Syria two weeks ago, I have been skeptical. It seemed a bit too self-serving given Bolton’s own confrontationalist approach to North Korea. I was more inclined to believe those suggesting the strike was simply meant to send a message […]

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Hamas PM Ismail Haniya’s claim in Thursday’s Guardian that the UK and Hamas have strengthened their ties seems credible . After all, the British government reversed its policy of boycotting Hamas when Alan Johnston was kidnapped and since then Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad has been to the UK twice, as has Haniya advisor Ahmed Yussuf. […]

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Here’s the declassified summary of the National Intelligence Estimate. Pretty much a waste of time and nothing we didn’t already know. The seven page document consists of five pages on how to read the NIE and just two pages rehashing what we already know: Al Qaeda is out to get us and thus “the United […]

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At last, a US-sponsored peace conference for Israelis and Palestinians. At last, the Bush administration is heeding pleas that it get vigorously involved in Mideast peacemaking. Of course, it won’t work. The time in which a sit down with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could have proved fruitful has long passed. Abbas rules over just two […]

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I finally found time to read the latest paper by Nathan J. Brown from the Carnegie Endowment called “The peace process has no clothes.” Brown understands the inner workings of Mideast governments better than anybody and he’s always worth reading. His latest paper is an indictment of every party involved in this mess over here […]

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