:rolleyes: George, I’d cheer you on if I thought you could do it. But the POTUS who negotiates a final settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians will have to be someone who has some credibility with both groups. That ain’t you. You’ve always sided with the Israelis against the Pals in any conflict. The Palestinians do not love you, trust you, nor respect you, nor have they any reason to listen to you. Accept reality and go quiet into that good night. What you’ve got now, is your legacy.
You don’t think he’s just electioneering on the behalf of the GOP campaigns? And that when you’re giving a speech before a Big Important Body, and you’re going to announce a Big Important World Peace Goal in that speech, it’s generally the Done Thing to include a specific target date, whether it’s actually feasible or not? And that a target date of anything but the reasonably near future just sounds like a wistful “wish list”?
I’m not taking it seriously, myself. It’s an election year, and one with a lot at stake. Everything that comes out of a politician’s mouth from now until the first Wednesday in November is deeply suspect IMO, or at least even more suspect than it normally is.
Nah, I think he’s actually dumb enough that he thinks ‘this time it will work’ because he really really wants it.
Look for him to start spouting in August about how things are really better over there - due to either just plain delusion or (more charitably) his people feeding him the version of the truth he wants to hear.
You know, Condi says there’s “private talks” going on. Real hush-hush delicate stuff about the BIG issues, that you and I can never know about because it’d screw things up. But now that we know there are private talks, surely we must acknowledge that “anything is possible” and “the sky is the limit.”
I don’t think he is dumb or stupid. This, as many in the past, is just a setup or the greatest scam in the recent history - peace in the ME.
Just read that statement again… “democratic Palestine based on law and justice”… we all know that train has left the station long time ago…
Realistically, Palestinian society will just dive deeper and deeper int the depths of loathing where 10 years from now people will rememeber Hamas as chance missed.
However, it makes great slogans election campaign. Hopefully Obama doesn’t get sucked into a trap.
I’m not sure any of this even matters. Even if Bush was beloved by the Palestinians and Israelis, an awesome diplomat, had a trillion dollars to spend on the project and spent every day remaining in his presidency in the Middle East, there’s no way he or anyone else is going to bring the decades long conflict to a peaceful resolution in 7 months, especially now when there isn’t even a unified Palestinian gov’t to negotiate with.
The words “watch me pull this rabbit out of my hat” are running through my mind.
George Bush, a man who - to put it in the most charitable terms - has not had a perfect record in diplomacy, thinks he can unravel what is probably the most long-standing and unsolveable diplomatic situations in the world in the next six months? Richelieu, Mazarin, Talleyrand, Metternich, and Bismarck all working side-by-side would probably not be able to do this. Bush, on the other hand, probably doesn’t know who any of the people in the preceding sentence are.
If I was a Palestinian or leader of Hamas, there is no chance that I would negotiate an independent two-state rule while Bush is in power. After 60 years, I’d at least wait another 8 months until the next president as to not give this 'tard any credit.
And Little Nemo, we all know that Bush has no idea who you were talking about.
I understand knocking Bush is one of the board’s favorite spectator sports, but this seems remarkably similar to Clinton’s July 2000 summit with Arafat and Barak. There are certainly differences on how they are attempting to carry it out, but all President’s start thinking about their legacy at the end, republican and democrat alike.
On those grounds, no POTUS will ever negotiate a final settlement, because they’ve all sided with the Israelis. From a Palestinian POV, I’d be surprised if they trusted any American negotiator/mediator, no matter what his background.
There’s just too much obvious pro-Israel sentiment here (making no judgment about whether the same is warranted).
Hmmmmm - I usually take a 7 and 5/8ths.
Perhaps Professor Peabody and Sherman (Ever Dog Should Have a Boy) can use the Wayback Machine, go back to 2000 years, and straighten the entire mess out in the early stages.
