“For [Obama's] beloved middle ground is elusive, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. As Updike noted in 1966, ‘It is in middles that extremes clash.’ “Or, as he wrote 40 years later in ‘Terrorist,’ ‘History is a machine perpetually grinding mankind to dust.’ Our hopes, not least.” (Roger Cohen, writing in the New [...]
Archive for June 2009
“…grinding mankind to dust.”
June 8, 2009How much can we help people? First thoughts.
June 6, 2009How much can we help people? How much can we do for people, as opposed to what they can do for themselves? There are those who think that only people can help themselves, and it’s probably a true statement that the “readiness is all,” and that if one is not ready, be it ready to [...]
Israel, Dar al-Islam, and Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009
June 6, 2009There is little hope that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will soon end, the outcome that President Obama is now pushing for, probably not even during his one or two terms of office, much as it didn’t happen during the terms of his predecessors. And here’s why. (If you still believe there is hope see Ethan Bronner’s [...]
Before the President’s Visit
June 3, 2009During the next week President Barack Obama intends to visit the United States. Here are just a few of the principal problems facing him and the country, and in each case accompanied by a few thoughts of my own that the President might find helpful in his attempt to begin to find solutions. 1) Homeland [...]
