Kerry at work
Excellent editorial by Jonathan S. Tobin at
Commentary Magazine:
Kerry�s Illusion of Momentum
Lest anyone think Secretary of State John Kerry was working hard to deal with urgent foreign-policy problems today, fear not. Although he was doing nothing to end the standoff with Russia over Edward Snowden, stop Iran�s nuclear program, deal with the chaos in Egypt or the ongoing civil war in Syria that is strengthening Tehran�s hand, he didn�t come away empty-handed from his latest trip to the Middle East to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Nobody other than Kerry seriously believes Kerry�s efforts to re-start the peace process will succeed. Both sides are at pains to try to avoid getting the blame for the inevitable failure. Yet Kerry hasn�t persuaded the Palestinians to negotiate, let alone actually end the conflict with Israel and, indeed, may be making things worse by encouraging them to ask for more preconditions that serve as a pretext for staying away from the talks. But his fool�s errand did get the endorsement of the Arab League today.
The statement from the League won�t alter the division among Palestinians between Hamas and Fatah that makes peace impossible. Nor will it prevent Abbas from raising the ante, as he keeps demanding more concessions from Israel in order to sit with them while having no intention of actually negotiating. But it does give Kerry the illusion of momentum that he needs so desperately in order to justify wasting his time on a dead end that offers no chance of a resolution while urgent situations that require his attention are given short shrift.
Though the New York Times trumpeted the Arab League statement as proof that Kerry�s efforts are being rewarded with success, the real news came out of Ramallah where, as Ynet reported, Abbas was doubling down on his insistence on a laundry list of preconditions before he will consider returning to the negotiations that he has been boycotting since the start of the Obama administration. According to Western sources, Kerry�s latest meeting with Abbas to get him to rejoin the talks didn�t get him to budge but it did yield more demands from the Fatah leader.
Kerry is the personification of the phrase 'all hat, no cattle'.
He looks the part but is ineffectual and just not that smart.
Posted by DaveH at July 19, 2013 2:21 PM