By John Ballard
Yesterday's appearance of Jordan's King Abdullah II was one of this year's most impressive examples of outstanding television journalism.
The part that sticks in my mind begins at about 6:30 when the the king spells out clearly that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is THE central issue, not only of the region but the world beyond. Listen as he describes how if that question can be resolved many other thorny problems will begin to unwind. That conflict is the inspirational wedge argument behind the recruitment of many young terrorists.
(I stopped watching when John Yoo appeared. The sight of him annoys me. Zakaria has a stronger stomach.)
Fareed, not Vareed, Zakaria, right?
ReplyDeleteThe Yoo interview IS annoying, but Fareed directly challenges the "new kind of war, new kind of enemy" meme, at 20 min. Calls it "parochial."
ReplyDeleteIf it is so pivotal why has Jordan done nothing in sixty years to help the Transjordanian people kept in refugee camps? Why is it solely incumbent on Israel to make up for Britain and Jordan's terrible mistakes in breaking up the Ottoman empire? And explain again why democracy is good for Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Israelis, but not for Jordanian citizens?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, it is all misdirection. Exactly.
I am quite impressed by Mr. Zakaria's focus on the issues. He is courteous and yet persistent to hold the King to account for his assertions. I would not have known the depth of the balance from how Newshoggers presented the story, as some sort of a priori confirmation that the King had anything to say about the Palestinian Arab question that was not completely self-serving and simply maintained Jordan's status quo hostility to the Palestinian Arabs as a people and also former citizens of the Ottoman empire dismembered by the former British empire.
ReplyDeleteThing King's variations on "My people, they love me too much to embrace democracy" sounded hollow and Mr Zakaria was right to consistently push for a real answer.
There was nothing in this interview to confirm that the final solution is the USA to push Israel to commit demographic suicide. Instead all we saw is still another propaganda job by another ME dictator using circular verbal games to change the subject.
Headline typo corrected. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteRegarding depth of the balance the reason for embedding the interview in its entirety was to let subject and interviewer speak for themselves. If how Newshoggers presented the story is aimed at my two-sentence characterization of the king's argument, you understand my opinion exactly. I am in complete agreement with what the king said.
Anyone who has been following Middle East affairs during my lifetime is aware that the I-P conflict is central to many arguments, even when irrelevant. I have spoken with Muslims (non-Arabs) and Christian Zionists half a world away who frame conversations about economics, politics, history, fashion or entertainment in antisemitic language which invariably tosses up the Palestinian conflict as matter-of-factly as if discussing snow in the polar regions. Resolving that conflict would, in fact, delimit many other arguments.
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ReplyDelete