Israel and Syria: To talk or not to talk…

“Greetings from your Israeli reader and occasional correspondent. I’d be interested in hearing your views on the following matter.

Shimon Peres, Israel’s inveterate devotee of the peace process, has ruffled a few feathers in the Prime Minister’s office by calling for negotiations with Syria. This, in response to an apparent spate of newspaper interviews by Assad suggesting the peace process could move forward (ignoring, or winking an eye at Assad’s simultaneous beating of the war drums). A prominent conservative Israeli economic columnist made an argument this morning in the economic supplement of Haaretz that now is the time for Israel to play the Syrian card, since Assad is opposed to Muslim fundamentalism, and peace with Israel could move him away from his alliance with Iran. Continue reading “Israel and Syria: To talk or not to talk…” →

War Cries!

Cool heads do not seem destined to prevail in the region these days. They are too few to begin with. In fact, I can only count one: Fouad Seniora. The hot heads, on the other hands, are too numerous to list in toto, but they surely include: Mahmoud Amhadinejad, Hassan Nasrallah and Bashar al-Assad. The first has just wasted his fifteen minutes in the UN by failing to offer anything of substance to advance his country’s cause. Grandstanding may get you a few laughs and applause (a la Chavez, I guess), but not understanding or support. Continue reading →

Clergymen Bearing Gifts

Nasrallah - 2006 — Lebanon pays the price of clerical bravado.

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

Beware the clerics even when they come bearing victory – for the price is always too high for this worldly life.

Welcome to Regional War!

The defiant declarationof the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem, which he made during his brief visit to Beirut, especially the “welcome with regional war” part should begin to raise certain eyebrows in Tel Aviv, in Washington, in Paris, and all across the world. People really need to ask themselves now whether we are not indeed heading towards such a war. For even if Israel and the US are not exactly interested in having things go that far,the possibility remains that the more trouble Israel has in Lebanon and the US in Iraq, and the more beatable the two powers appear, the more tempting the push for war will be by the other side of the equation, namely the alliance that was formed not too long ago, by Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and the radical wing in Hamas, among other Palestinian groups. Continue reading →