Motley Moose – Archive

Here is the word of the day: Belagan:

Noun 1. balagan – a word for chaos or fiasco borrowed from modern Hebrew (where it is a loan word from Russian); “it was utter and complete balagan!”

What is one of the most difficult intellectual endeavors on the Planet? Trying to figure out the politics of the Middle East. Nothing but nothing about this area is clear and nothing but nothing about this area makes a ton of sense. Into this fray – the President Obama steps. Living up to a campaign promise made during his first term the President will be heading to the Middle East to visit both the Israelis and Palestinian leadership (well the P.A. part of it)

Of course, in typical fashion for anything in the Middle East, nothing about this visit seems to make sense. One side (the Americans) state that the visit is for the President to “strengthen the bonds between Israel and the U.S.”, One side (the Palestinians) are insisting that the U.S. visit be used to “pressure” the Israelis into halting the settlement process and force the Israelis to negotiate with him for a State and finally One side (the Israelis), are saying that that the President is both coming with a plan and a proposal for a summit between the Israelis and Palestinians AND Not coming with anything (is this a surprise to anyone?)

In an unexpected move, the Nobel Committee have awarded President Obama the Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.

In a stunning speech, greeted with cries of “I Love You” from the students of Cairo University, President Obama called for…

A new beginning between the United States and Muslims

This is seen as a pivotal moment this side of the Atlantic, and of course throughout the Middle East and the broader Muslim world, and President Obama breaks with the theocon extremities of the Bush era, to appeal to the peace loving instincts of Islam.

The full text of the speech can be found here.

There’s plenty to digest, so consider this an open thread on the Cairo speech and foreign policy.