Commentary Magazine

Posts For: May 15, 2007

The EU and the Palestinians

| @eottolenghi 05.15.2007 - 4:52 PM

At the beginning of May, during a visit to Ramallah on the West Bank, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany declared that

Realistically, one must say that there are opportunities now that were not there in the past, but at the same time the risks are just as high. The opportunity lies in the fact that the Arab world is being much more constructive—the Arab League’s decision to renew its peace initiative was more than helpful—and I am pleased that it was also welcomed by the Israeli government.

Steinmeier—who made this statement during a session with President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr—was referring to the Arab peace initiative, whose envoys are soon expected in Israel for talks. Given the circumstances on the ground, this may yet be another signal that the Europeans are warming up to the idea of trying to renew the Arab-Israeli peace process. In theory, the new initiative would make possible an agreement between Israel and the larger Arab world while bypassing and imposing a settlement on the recalcitrant Palestinian factions.

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Who Will Control the GOP?

05.15.2007 - 2:03 PM

On the surface, the current brouhaha over Rudy Giuliani’s nuanced stance on abortion makes no sense. Ever since Roe v. Wade, it’s been the courts, not the executive, that shape and drive abortion policy. Guiliani has said that, like Bush, he will appoint strict-constructionist judges. So what’s the fuss about?

Well, the struggle over abortion is an important proxy in the fight for control of the Republican party. In the wake of the shellacking the GOP took in the 2006 mid-term elections, the social conservatives were set back on their heels. Like many liberals, they seem to have foolishly believed all the talk about the genius of Karl Rove in creating an unstoppable Republican electoral machine. Even though the Republicans’ massive defeat had been predicted by the polls, it was an enormous shock, and provided the opening that allowed Giuliani to emerge as the GOP frontrunner.

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Hillary’s Time Tunnel, Episode 3

05.15.2007 - 11:33 AM

Can one go back into the past and alter the course of history? The Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee has released its own remake of Hillary’s favorite show, The Time Tunnel. Starring Bill Clinton, it is now available here on YouTube.

In this latest episode—click here for episode one, and here for episode two—Bill Clinton enters the Time Tunnel and alters key happenings in Hillary’s life and career, long before she became a United States Senator and long before he became President.

The drama opens with Bill journeying across his own memories to the moment he met Hillary thirty-five years ago. We see her progress from law school to a career in public service—working for the Children’s Defense Fund and then the House Judiciary Committee. Foreshadowing events that would occur decades later, we then see Hillary following Bill to Arkansas as he became a devoted “public servant” while she taught in the local law school and set up a legal-aid clinic for poor people.

Suspense builds as history takes an astonishing turn in a direction starkly different from the way things happened the first time around. Thanks to the Time Tunnel, Hillary’s years working within the Rose law firm in Little Rock are erased. In an unexpected turn of events, her close friend and law partner Vincent Foster will never come to take his own life; her other close friend and law partner Webster Hubbell will never become a ranking official in the Justice Department and then a convicted felon. Hillary does not join them both in litigating against low-income consumers in a utility-rate case. Hubbell does not later recall, as he would in his memoirs, that “instead of defending poor people and righting wrongs, we found ourselves squarely on the side of corporate greed against the little people.” Read More

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Polling the Muslim World, Part II

05.15.2007 - 11:24 AM

In my last post, I described the distressing amount of support for al Qaeda revealed by a recent poll of public opinion in four U.S.-allied Muslim-majority countries: Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

This was not the only disconcerting finding of the survey. Asked whether one of the goals of U.S. global policy is “to weaken and divide Islam,” 79 percent answered in the affirmative, including 92 percent of Egyptian respondents. Asked whether the U.S. aimed “to spread Christianity in the Middle East,” 64 percent said yes. The poll then asked for the “primary goal” of the U.S. war on terror. Offered three choices, 36 percent said it was “to achieve political and military domination to control Middle East resources.” Thirty-four percent thought it was “to weaken and divide the Islamic religion and its people.” Only 19 percent thought the reason was “to protect itself from terrorist attacks.” (Please note, all numbers above and below have been rounded.)

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Norman Podhoretz’s “The Case for Bombing Iran”

05.15.2007 - 10:47 AM

Norman Podhoretz’s “The Case for Bombing Iran,” an examination of the growing threat posed by continued inaction in response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, will appear in our June print issue. But it’s now available free at COMMENTARY’s website.

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