In years past, yesterday I would have been working hard campaigning in London on election day, instead I had the change to hear Obama's speach on his views between the West and the Middle East.
Over the past couple of weeks Obama has been making a number of difficult requirments for Israel, which I have been critical of, but yesterday I thought Obama made a good speech even though I disagreed with much of it.
What I think is clear is that Obama wants to create peace between Islam and the West and between the Arabs and Israel. These are worthy aims but I am not sure whether he can achieve them.
The West and Israel do want to live in peace with the Arab and Islamic world but I believe they will struggle to find partners for peace. Obama has already started to make concessions with his greater tolerance of Iran (the most dangerous country in the world) as they get closer to having nuclear weapons. Israel, in my view will also be willing to make concessions on its settlement of the West Bank and a Palestinian State, (as it has done time and time again) even if many Israeli's disagree with these concessions.
However, the Arab's are looking to wipe Israel off the map, and Islam as described by Bin Ladin yesterday, said they are willing to embark on a long war for Islamic domination of the world. These are enemies that are not going to accept peace. That is why even if Obama calls on them to accept the histroy of the Jewish people, including the Holocaust and its right to a homeland in Israel, not even he can persaude them to accept a peaceful outcome.
1 comment:
Richard,
I don't really want to spoil the party, but wouldn't you say that the Tories holding seats in their safest wards during a period when the Labour government is in a wee bit of difficulty is actually not really that surprising?
It is fairly clear from looking at the figures for 2006 that a large number of votes went to independent candidates. I suspect if Greens or UKIP had stood, then the % would have been well below 50%. Of course that is pure speculation so enjoy your champagne.
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