Tony Blair’s role in the Middle East? Continue as Bush’s waterboy.
In his new role as envoy to the Middle East, Tony
Blair will be charged with shoring up Palestinian institutions, but not with
trying to nail down a peace deal.
In his new role as envoy to the Middle East, Tony Blair will be charged with shoring up Palestinian institutions, but not with trying to nail down a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians because Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, is handling that job herself, administration officials said Wednesday.
The lack of a link between final status talks and the building of Palestinian institutions is the crux of why previous attempts have been unsuccessful.
“Unless he has the authority to deal with the Israelis on the issue of movement and lifting of barriers, he’s not going to get very far,” said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who was a senior adviser for Arab-Israeli relations at the State Department under the last three presidents.
Writing in a syndicated column, Rami Khouri, editor at large at The Daily Star in Beirut, said, “Appointing Tony Blair as special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace is something like appointing the Emperor Nero to be the chief fireman of Rome.”
The Israeli government’s perpetual quest for Liebensraum was enabled from the beginning by US guarantees of support. Since there’s never been a flunky-in-chief more devoted than Tony Blair - does anyone expect any changes?
Posted: Thu - June 28, 2007 at 08:25 AM