Yawning over the Latest from the Middle East

[Valin]

Daniel Pipes.org:

Daniel Pipes

1/26/14

 

The Middle East does offer some signs of hope, such as the inspiring example of Israel, the metaphorical "villa in the jungle"; the bracing prospect of Islamists falling into disarray; and the emergence of an independent Kurdistan.

 

But these are the exceptions. In general, the regions these days hosts such unchanging, repetitious and dreary news that this commentator barely reads the news and has little to say about it. Consider some leading issues of the moment:

• Disagreement over the very terms of the Joint Plan of Action with Tehran.
• A futile peace conference aiming to settle the Syrian civil war.
• Futile Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy.
• Regional actors either alarmed by or appeasing Tehran – or both.
• Ghastly new atrocities in the Syrian civil war.
• Daily brutality in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Iran, and Afghanistan.
• Political shuffling in Egypt and Tunisia.
• An increasingly dictatorial Turkish prime minister.
• Water crises developing in Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.

How many times can one ridicule the diplomacy, bemoan the violence, or raise the alarms? What creative foreign policy other than a simple self-defense can one propose toward so toxic a region?.....(Snip)