Oh the Irony!

Tony Blair is being put in charge of the one file at which he failed abysmally as Prime Minister. At least that's how I look at his new job being the Middle East peace envoy.

I remember after 9/11 that it was popular to speak of the "death of irony" and all that. Irony isn't dead, it's become darker and more monstrous. I started writing out examples, but really, I'm tired and they are obvious.

How not to do Geopolitics

Every time I read that someone is trying to use the Bible as a basis for foreign policy decisions, I cringe. This has to be, on some level, a great exercise in laziness. Let's not investigate the history of colonialism, let's not bother with the whole Sunni-Shi'a thing, let's overlook the economic interests in the region (read: oil), and finally, let's avoid any attempt to understand things from several points of view. No. Instead let's just read one chapter in the Bible and assume that it is not talking about the time in which it was written but rather that it is talking about this particular moment in history.

Whatever insights might be gleaned from studying the Bible, I can almost guarantee you that foreign policy guidelines are not among them. Dobson should actually go out and, you know, read some modern history, or Middle Eastern cultural studies, or, well, you get my point.

Innovative New Strategy for The Middle East!

That's right kids, the new strategy is to find a strong man and prop him up. According to this post the only thing is that the strong man should be more like a Musharraf than a Saddam Hussein. Minor detail, right?

3 = 1 or Peter Kent's Middle East Non-Solution

Jason Cherniak has been talking about how Peter Kent, a likely Tory star candidate in the next election apparently endorsed a three-state solution to the whole Israel-Palestinian kerfluffle. Jason unpacks the utter lack of appeal that this would have here.

I want to go one step further, a three state solution would be a de facto continuation of a single state with some territories under occupation. What could keep two sovereign states from uniting? Even if they did not formally unite into one Palestinian state, then for all intents and purposes they could act as one. What would Kent block? Could the two states have free trade? A customs union? What about a common currency?

Moreover, who would enforce such things? I don't see the UN doing it. I don't see NATO doing it. Really, only Israel could stand in the way of a united Gaza and West Bank. In effect then, neither of Kent's two ministates would have independence of any real sort.
Picture: Peter Kent once thought he was Howard Beale