Comment 1: Michael McFaul’s interest in human rights is quite genuine I am sure. But the Obama’s Administration rather cynical sense of realpolitik has made a mockery of any talk of human rights. The Russian activists are right: this is political theater, and it is badly directed at that. Since the commitment is obviously not real, as the Freedom Agenda is no longer on the table, Obama might as well shy away from any show of hypocrisy in this regard. No amount of political theater can undo the damage done to America’s standing or the cause of freedom. Spare us.
Comment 2: Time after time the world is forced to turn its attention to the Palestinian problem, but with each time, the immediate issue confronting us becomes slightly different. For instance, the issue right now is not Palestinian statehood, but lifting the Gaza Blockade. De facto, but not de jure, the world now has two Palestinian states, which, I fear, may never be unified again. The philosophy of resistance increases our fragmentation. The best that can be achieved now is to take this de facto existence to the realm of de jure existence. And then there is the issue of Jerusalem…
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 