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Peace Processing
Talking about direct talks: Netanyahu returns to the White House
US president Barack Obama will use a White House meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an extended West Bank settlement freeze. If Netanyahu doesn't offer one - and the domestic politics are quite difficult for him - it's hard to see any possibility of direct talks with the Palestinian Authority later this year.
The president's decision to nominate Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan won't mean a major change in strategy. But there are mounting reasons for pessimism about current policy, particularly the relentless focus on southern Afghanistan. The deployment of tens of thousands of additional troops to Kandahar and Helmand serves few NATO objectives.
Freedom Flotilla Killings
Anticlimax: How much did the flotilla raid really change regional politics?
It has accelerated Israel's isolation from several of its neighbors and allies; it has sharpened divisions within Turkish domestic politics; it has deepened perceptions that the Obama administration as too close to Israel. And it seems to have had a remarkably minor impact on Palestinian domestic politics.
Bloggers
- Abu Muqawama
- All Things Counterterrorism
- Arab Media & Society
- Attackerman
- Baghdad Bureau
- Baghdad Observer
- Black Iris of Jordan
- Blogging the Casbah
- Boursa Exchange
- Checkpoint Jerusalem
- Foreign Policy Watch
- George Packer
- Inside Iraq
- Jihadica
- Institute for War & Peace Reporting
- Marc Lynch
- Middle East Strategy
- Musings on Iraq
- Newshoggers
- Nukes and Spooks
- Registan
- Syria News Wire
- Talking Points Memo
- Tehran Bureau
- The Arabist
- The Middle East Blog
- Waq al-Waq