Avuncular American

Stella

Before some genius PR person decides to package this as another "coming of age" film, please note that while "Stella," by writer/director Sylvie Verheyde, has a few of the elements that go into a typical "feel good" picture trailer, this film is an original.

Yes, there is a little girl in the title role, played by an amazing Léora Barbara.  And she does have to struggle against considerable odds before showing that she just might make a success of it - life, that is.  We know all that, because we know that Stella is Sylvie Verheyde's own story, and that Verheyde is a successful woman of film, as writer, actress, producer, and director.

Ango-Saxon audiences (I have no clue as to when Stella will be released beyond Continental Europe) may not recognize many in the film's highly credible cast, which is perhaps just as well.  Some, like Karole Rocher who plays Stella's barmaid mother, are Verheyde veterans.  Other characters are played by a director-chosen mix of actors and amateurs: bar hounds in the parents' bistro; teachers (some of whom teach in real life), both the frustrated and the inspiring; and the first-year secondary school kids - lost, awkward, class-conscious, and very conscious of who is - and Stella is not - cool.

Stella has to maneuver through a number of minefields: at "home" she sees things that no 11 year-old should see, and ingests huge quantities of secondary smoke from the omnipresent Gitanes or Gauloises while playing cards with the grown up habitués.  At school, neither classmates nor teachers (with a couple of key exceptions) know what to make of her mix of dreamy inattention and tomboyish schoolyard behavior.  And yet... 3 decades later, how many of Stella/Sylvie's former classmates are getting awards at the Venice Days film festival?

In Venice, Sylvie Verheyde (SV, like title character "Stella Vlaminck," has roots in the Flanders of northern France) told an interviewer just how semi-autobiographical this is:

Like Stella, I grew up in a working-class cafe, a world that was tough, violent, far from the world of childhood. Like her, I was catapulted into a famous Parisian secondary school. And like her, I arrived there alone with my soccer ball under my arm. Like her, I spit on a boy on the playground and went home with a black eye on the first evening!

The interview, on the Venice Days site linked above, is worth a look for Verheyde's explanation of the context in the late Seventies, when "there was a lot of heated discussion on schools: on authority, coeducation, the veil, school as a means of upward social mobility, etc."  Three decades later, many of these are still hot issues, and not just in France.

I hope a few teachers see Stella, and reflect on how knife-edge their charges' lives are.  A few too many mean-spirited words, or a few flickers of inspiration can make all the difference.  And for its portrayal of a working class world fueled by alcohol, tobacco, and football, Stella has few equals.

Sylvie Verheyde's website is here (there are trailers for Stella and for her previous films), and the French distributor Diaphana (photo above) is here.

Pragmatic Populist vs. Partisan Plutocrats

There's a Far Side cartoon (Gary Larson's strong views on internet reproduction of his drawings prevent me from showing it) where a horse doctor's checklist of cures for equine ailments from "bad breath" to "broken leg" all indicate "SHOOT."

I thought of that as I read that no Republican lawmaker had voted for the Obama stimulus bill in the US House of Representatives.  Apparently the Republican cure, for all economic events from death to depression, is "TAX CUT."

President Obama, on the other hand, knows that the cure for what currently ails America is going to have to be a bit more sophisticated than an over-the-counter pill that has been used to excess during the eight years of Bushism.  And where has that gotten us?

Obama's answer to the Republican blindness and tone-deafness (cartoonist Tom Toles in the Washington Post shows the GOP as suicidal) was twofold: his frank and heartfelt condemnation of Wall Street and Big Bank billion dollar bonuses, and his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

What we know about our new President is that he is a political pragmatist, but that does not prevent him from espousing a cause that is popular.  Yesterday, he hit a double bull's eye: no one, except for perhaps the "master of the universe" recipients of mega bonuses, thinks that they make any sense as a "reward" for getting the world economy in such deep trouble.  And they are inherently unfair, when most of the money to pay for said bonuses comes from taxpayers who may be on the verge of losing job and/or home.

And the Fair Pay Act?  I guess there are only five Republican Senators moderate (or fair-minded) enough to have voted for the bill.  Who, other than misogynists or worse, can be against same-work, same-pay legislation?

Tom Toles showed the GOP elephant falling off the cliff in response to Obama on bended knee.  They weren't pushed - they jumped.

Herbert Hoover, after the Crash of 1929, had four years to turn a stock market crash into a Great Depression.  George W. Bush escaped from the White House before his economic crisis reached its depths, but many of his fellow perps are still in Congress.  If we get out of this Republican-generated mess, it won't be thanks to any help from House Republicans, who only look for problems in the solutions presented to them.

Congressional elections are scheduled for November 2010.

Mideast Facts 'n Spin: Time for Mitchell's Model

There is a very useful document archived on the site Mediate.com, "George Mitchell: Role Model for Mediation," written by Irish mediator Geoffrey Corry after the triumph of the Good Friday Agreement a decade ago.  It's worth reading for tips on how Mitchell's low key, high credibility approach brought together factions as riven by mutual antagonism as Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists.

Reconciling groups that had previously only demonized the opposing side - useful experience for his new job, which pits Israel against Hamas against Fatah.  Given the fight for world public opinion recently waged around the fighting in Gaza, Mitchell's Mediation Model will first need to separate out the spin.

As Corry wrote about Mitchell in Northern Ireland, it all begins with a Conflict Assessment: "undertaken at the beginning of the process... it was a great way of getting to know all the players and hear their underlying concerns."  That's exactly what former Senator Mitchell is doing today, barely a week after his appointment by President Obama.  Everybody's doing an assessment of the most recent fighting (see below).  Mitchell will be assessing what has changed since he last "did" peace processing, and will be looking deeper and broader than the still-smoldering Gaza.

For now, the after-action reports are still focusing on image, PR, spin, and public opinion.  "A Battle Over What Happened in Gaza," as Jeffrey Fleishman recently wrote in the Los Angeles Times, sums up the after-action reporting.  Fleishman quotes Ari Shavit in Haaretz who said while the fighting still raged, that Israel was "destroying its soul and its image."

Those supporting the Israeli position saw much more than solidarity in the European "tilt" in favor of the battered Palestinians.  Wrote Efraim Karsh for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA)

The fact that international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the conflict.

If the European press erred on the side of the Gazans, that would not appear to be the case in most of the US press, where, as former American diplomat John Brown noted in Common Dreams, "apologists" successfully deployed "the talking point that Israel, by striking at Hamas on its turf, has done the United States a favor."

Belgian journalist, human rights activist, and "Atlantic Progressive" Jean-Paul Marthoz, who knows the press on both sides of the ocean, writes:

The real issue however is much more the growing European awareness that this conflict is corroding the internal situation and constantly endangering international stability. According to most surveys the level of knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is higher in Europe not only because the European media are on the whole more generous in their foreign news reporting and on the whole more diverse in their coverage but also because the mainstream European political debate provides more plurality of voices than in the U.S.

For plurality, there's no place better than in the current issue of the London Review of Books to get a version of events unseen in much of the US press.  In "Israel's Lies," Henry Siegman (former national director of the American Jewish Congress - AJCongress), as Jimmy Carter did in the Washington Post, shows that Israel's intransigence over allowing food and medicine into Gaza was a major factor in ending the ceasefire that had lasted throughout much of 2008.  Siegman demolishes the notion of Israel's search for accommodation with the Palestinians, using Israeli politicians' own words, then asks: "Do the Israelis and Americans think that Palestinians don’t read the Israeli papers?"

Senator Mitchell, bless him, will have to wade through the multiple dimensions of mistrust as he tries to make up for the last eight years of neglect.  Geoffrey Corry's "Mitchell Model" - which, beyond conflict assessment, involves setting out basic principles, negotiating a set of basic ground rules, establishing a deadline, working from a single text document, and building an inclusive process - is underpinned by what he calls Mitchell's "low profile" style.

If that sounds boring, so be it.  But, as Ehud Olmert once wisely said (before he contradicted himself recently) "It's better to speak than to shoot."

Obama and Europe - Early Impressions

As a member of Democrats Abroad Belgium, I was asked to write an assessment of what the Obama Administration's early moves meant for Europe.  The following appeared today in "New Europe," a Brussels-based weekly.

If it already seems slightly dated, that's because it was based on Obama's first Day - as opposed to his first Week (happy anniversary!) - in the White House.

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“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this Presidency.”
President Barack Obama, 21 January 2009

Though he was referring to new ethics rules for White House personnel on his first full day in office, President Obama’s pragmatically principled outlook will be welcome relief to Europeans eager for a fresh breeze from the west.  Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, when she said Obama "speaks like we do,” was especially referring to his commitment to “dialogue, human rights and climate change.”

Europeans should be gratified by his first steps toward fulfilling his promise to close the Guantanamo prison facility: freezing the flawed military tribunal process and returning a respected civil-military prosecutor, fired by former President Bush, back to the camp.  Whether Obama’s early moves toward closing Guantanamo will encourage European countries to help “place” the remaining detainees remains to be seen.

But as the German Marshall Fund’s John Glenn and Kristin Lord of the Brookings Institution put it recently in Politico (“Obama to Europe: Ich bin ein listener”), “Obama’s great promise is that he has the potential to make collaboration with the United States not just politically possible but politically desirable.”

In these pages (19 January, Andy Dabilis, “The EU wants to know: who will Obama call?”), top European leaders were imagined lining up to be the first to receive a phone call from the new leader.  Though they may be disappointed not to have been first, they should be pleasantly surprised that it was not another rival European, nor even a leader of a “country” who was the first so honored.  Instead, Obama phoned Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority.

President Obama also phoned other Middle Eastern leaders on Day One.  There have been indications that Obama is to make a major speech during his first 100 days in an Islamic capital (Morocco is actively lobbying to be the venue).  This should settle questions about where the foreign policy priorities of the new administration lie.

But Europe need not worry.  Obama famously said “America has no better partner than Europe” last year in Berlin, the cornerstone of his foreign trip during the campaign.  A number of upcoming fora will provide early opportunities for European leaders to mix with Obama Administration principals.  Next week at Davos, National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers and National Security Adviser-designate James Jones will underline the economic and national security importance of the World Economic Forum agenda.

Before the double-bill in early April of the G-20 in London followed by NATO’s 60th Anniversary summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, President Obama will have ample opportunity to speak one-on-one with world and European leaders.  In the meantime, his just-confirmed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lose no time on the preparations for these important events.

Those leaders who longed for an Obama appearance at the November 2008 Washington G-20 will get their chance to deliberate with him on economic priorities, and his presence at the April NATO Summit will undoubtedly bolster President Nicolas Sarkozy’s prestige as host, not to speak of helping to deflect expected internal criticism for his announced plan to fully re-integrate France into the Atlantic Alliance.

The G-20 will likely see a greater meeting of the minds between a Keynesian Obama Administration and European leaders than that shown by the reluctant host last November.  But it is not certain that Obama will find more enthusiasm at the NATO Summit for the Alliance’s only hot war, Afghanistan.  As Fabrice Pothier, Director of Carnegie Europe said last December in New Europe, leaders from NATO’s European member states are good at “downplaying the seriousness of the Afghanistan mission at home while at the same time agreeing with international partners on the importance of prevailing there.”

Glenn and Lord, cited earlier, remind us that European publics’ “concern is not really about whether to help stabilize Afghanistan but about using force to achieve that goal,” and support a “wide range of non-combat missions.”  Stay tuned for a transatlantic convergence, perhaps elucidated in Davos by (retired 4-star general) James Jones, on a shift in Afghanistan to a “smart power” approach of robust diplomacy.

That’s a change that Americans and Europeans can believe in.

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My apologies to American audiences who thought they'd heard the last of the last line.

 

Radical Right, Wrapped In Religion

"The Week In Religion," apparently, was a serious, ecumenical program on early American TV.  Not to be confused with The Daily Show's "This Week in God," which is anything but serious.  If you want ecumenical, thoughtful, and serious, I suggest you check out Krista Tippett's "Speaking of Faith" on American public radio.  BBC World Service mines a similar vein in its weekly "Heart and Soul."   Finally,  the Washington Post and Newsweek collaborate on an excellent website dedicated to matters of religion, ethics, and belief in "On Faith."

For me, this week's news in religion reinforced my conviction that we need to be vigilant against the creeping influence - no, make that galloping influence - of fundamentalists and what in saner, less politically correct times might simply have been called religious "kooks."  And I'm not talking about Islam.  It's Christianity that has me worried.

His Holiness and the Holocaust Denier

I'll begin with Pope Benedict XVI and his decision to bring a rather tiny minority of ultra-conservative renegade bishops, priests, and their followers back into the arms of the Catholic Church.  Other than some misguided desire for inclusiveness, it's hard to credit anything other than the Pope's sympathizing with their ideas as his motivation.  I can't imagine that there was any groundswell of support among mainstream Catholics to bring in people who believe that the Holocaust was invented.

One of the "rehabilitated" bishops, Briton Richard Williamson, believes that the available evidence

is hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler ... Between 200,000-300,000 perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber.  I believe there were no gas chambers.

Jewish groups are up in arms, justifiably so.  But what do you expect from an infallible pontiff whose "one-sided" (according to impartial observers) decision to confer sainthood on priests and nuns killed by the Republican (anti-Franco) side in Spain's Civil War caused riots in 2007?  He's the same man who weighed in for the candidate of his choice in 2004, when he instructed American Catholics to vote for George W. Bush.  Did I mention infallibility?

Launching Medical Diplomacy To Gaza

In the week since I suggested that the incoming Obama Administration (through its holdover Defense Secretary) deploy a US Naval hospital ship to Gaza, the idea has been taken up in various parts of the blogosphere.  In part thanks to John Brown's excellent public diplomacy daily roundup, several advocates and opponents have come to light.

The Washington-based Palestine Center took up the cause, and the Arab American Institute drafted a form letter to President Obama advocating both hospital ships and US Army hospitals on the Egyptian border.

Consul-at-Arms, a US Foreign Service Officer whose military experience gives him a unique insight into the nexus of defense and diplomacy, basically liked the idea, but with reservations:

Firstly, I'm concerned about force protection. While I don't fear a repeat of the Liberty attacks, there are those for whom the great big red crosses of a hospital ship will seem an irresistible lure of a target. Perhaps some smaller, less peaceful ships could accompany our hospital ships as escorts. Unless I'm mistaken, we still have a fleet in the Mediterranean.

Second, I'm concerned about U.S. military personnel providing medical treatment for Hamas fighters, both from the vulnerability standpoint and from undesirability of becoming the de facto medical support arm of a belligerent, Hamas...

CAA's force protection concerns are valid, and are echoed, along with concern about the US ability to project a purely "humanitarian" image, by Christopher Albon in War & Health:

I am a strong supporter of hospital ships for medical diplomacy. However, in this particular case a hospital ship is inappropriate and will send the wrong message. A major (and not unreasonable) criticism of employing the Navy as medical diplomats is that, no matter their true intentions, the mission is still a US military operation using military equipment. Thus, I hesitate to imagine how a US military ship off the Gazan coast would play out in the Arab street (whatever its hull color).

The population of Gaza was just devastated by US weapon systems sold to Israel. Those controversial Israeli white phosphorus artillery rounds were made in a small town in Arkansas. The IDF AH-64s, F-16s, F-15s, M4s and M16s are also made in the US. The only thing the Gazan people want to see less than the Israeli military is the US military.

Both Consul-at-Arms and War & Health make valid security and public diplomacy points.  Alanna

Il Divo: Governance Italian Style

Show-biz has its divas; politics, at least in Italy, has Il Divo.  AKA Giulio Andreotti, alias Mr. Italy, Little Caesar, eternal Giulio, Beelzebub, Gobetto ("cute little hunchback"), and probably many more diminutives not fit for a G-rated film review.

"Toni Servillo E Giulio Andreotti" might scream the Italian trailers, like "Jamie Foxx IS Ray Charles" in the typical Hollywood biopic formula.  Only Il Divo is not formulaic, and may not even be a "biopic."

Says writer/director Paolo Sorrentino, "I want Il Divo to be seen for what it is: a film, a story, a fable."  He makes no claim to understand the "profoundly narcissistic" world of politics (a previous film, L'uomo in piu, took place in the world of professional soccer).  Sorrentino, from an interview in Belgium's Le Soir, is primarily interested in the title character, whom the newspaper calls "the impenetrable Andreotti."

Even though he may not understand it, Sorrentino portrays the Byzantine world of Italian politics with panache.  Prepare yourself for a whirlwind of political intrigue, only 10% of which you need understand to enjoy this Cannes award-winning film.  Is it important to know that Andreotti was prime minister seven times (one of his governments lasted all of nine days)?  Or minister 25 (or is it 33) times?  Not really, when you realize that Andreotti was (and remains - he is a Senator-for-life) a permanent fixture of postwar Italian politics, which has had some 60 governments in as many years.

Though not a "Mafia" film, there are nonetheless plenty of murky murders in the time-honored tradition: machine-gun ambushes, poisoned coffee in a "safe" jail cell, plastic bag over the head - death in all its forms.  That this happens during Andreotti's rule does not make him guilty, though he was convicted (and subsequently acquitted) for crimes ranging from conspiracy with the Mafia to murder (of a journalist who apparently had the goods on other Andreotti-era political crimes).

There are cameos of famous crimes, like the car-bombing of anti-Mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone, the London bridge "suicide" of banker Roberto Calvi, and the kidnapping/assassination of Aldo Moro, Chairman of Andreotti's Christian Democrats, by the Red Brigades.  The film's official site provides an excellent timeline to keep track of it all.

Sound like fun?  It is, actually.  There's a great original score by Teho Teardo, in a soundtrack that includes some appropriate period music, including the unforgettable Da Da Da.  Sorrentino favorite Toni Servillo plays the hunchbacked, Scottish Fold-eared, mournful-faced Andreotti with a fervor that the 90 year old politician must have possessed to stay in Italian politics (and out of Italy's prisons) for so long.  Though Cinecitta could alone have provided fine sets for the generally dark, moody interior scenes, Sorrentino has added realism to his "fable" by going on location to several Andreotti-related Italian sites.  Including the Archives, which were said to be the key to Andreotti's power over everyone with a secret to hide.

It may be my own taste in films, but I have the impression that Italian cineasts are slightly obsessed with the last half century or so of their history.  It's been rich in subject matter: the 2003 Buongiorno, Notte covered the Moro affair from the Red Brigades standpoint; La meglio gioventu was a magisterial portrait of the last four decades; Sanguepazzo reached back to the Fascist era; and the 2006 Il Caimano skewered Silvio Berlusconi before his return to power two years later.

Though Sorrentino reminds us that Il Divo is a "fable" (maybe for reasons of libel protection), his film hints that Andreotti was at least guilty of association with a whole cast of unsavory characters.  Especially for a church-going, Pope-befriending, defender of the West, as he was seen during the Cold War.  But, as Vanja Luksic said in Le Soir's excellent companion article heralding the film's release in Belgium, "commentators, from left and right, breathed a sigh of relief at his acquittal.  Had he been found guilty, it would have meant that Italy had been governed by criminals for 50 years!"

Moyen-Orientations de l'Administration Obama

Note: Because I am lazy, I am skipping a translation of my presentation at an Inauguration Day debate sponsored by two Brussels think tanks on "Change or status quo in the Middle East. Analysis of the geopolitical landscape and strategic direction of the new U.S. administration. Which role for the EU?"

Apologies to non-French speakers.  Stay tuned for a wrap up of the conference (in English!).  NDLR pour les francophones: mon clavier QWERTY n'ayant pas d'accents, je mets mon texte EN LETTRES MAJUSCULES.

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MERCI, MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT, MAIS JE PRECISE QUE JE NE REPRESENTE QUE LES "DEMOCRATS" DE LA BELGIQUE, DONT JE SUIS UN DES PORTE-PAROLES.  JE NE SUIS PLUS REPRESENTANT DU GOUVERNEMENT AMERICAIN DEPUIS QUE J’AI QUITTE LA DIPLOMATIE, FIN 2002.

MES REMERCIEMENTS AUX INSTITUTS MEDEA ET IERI D’AVOIR ORGANISE CETTE CONFERENCE LE JOUR DE L’INVESTITURE DU PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.  COMME CA NOUS POUVONS PARLER AU PRESENT, ET FAIRE ALLUSION A GEORGE W. BUSH COMME “L’ANCIEN PRESIDENT DES ETATS-UNIS.”  IL EST MAINTENANT DU PASSE – ET, JE CROIS, SERA PEU REGRETTE A TRAVERS LE MONDE.

LE THEME DE CETTE CONFERENCE A ETE BIEN CHOISI, AINSI QUE LES CONFERENCIERS, QUI REPRESENTENT L’EVENTAIL DES PAYS ESSENTIELS A L’ETABLISSEMENT D’UNE PAIX DURABLE AU MOYEN ORIENT.  JE DIRAIS QU’ENTRE LE CHANGEMENT OU LE STATU QUO, IL N’ Y A VRAIMENT PAS DE CHOIX.  IL N’EST PAS ETONNANT, POUR QUELQU’UN QUI A LUTTE POUR L’ELECTION DE BARACK OBAMA, QUE JE PREFERE LE CHANGEMENT.

CAR LE STATU QUO – GUERRES, TREVES, TERRORISME, OCCUPATION – N’EST PAS DURABLE, MEME SI CETTE SITUATION PERDURE DEPUIS PLUS D’UN DEMI-SIECLE.  COMME LE TERME “MOYEN-ORIENT” NE SE LIMITE PAS A LA QUESTION DE L’AVENIR D’ISRAEL ET DE LA PALESTINE, LE CHANGEMENT DOIT AUSSI S’APPLIQUER A LA REGION ENTIERE.

MAIS PAS A LA FACON BUSH:  UNILATERALE, MESSIANIQUE, AVEC RECOURS AUX ARMES D’ABORD, COMME DANS UN WESTERN.  CELA NOUS A LAISSE UN HERITAGE DE HAINE, DE GUERRE, ET D’ECHEC.  VOILA LA SITUATION MOYEN-ORIENTALE DONT HERITE LE PRESIDENT OBAMA.

BUSH A DIT QUE LA ROUTE VERS JERUSALEM PASSE PAR BAGDAD.  NOUS AVONS VU QUE CET ITINERAIRE ETRANGE NOUS A AMENE A FAIRE UNE ENORME DEVIATION.  HUIT ANNEES DE TERGIVERSATIONS EN PASSANT PAR KABUL ET BAGDAD, MAIS AUSSI PAR UNE FEUILLE DE ROUTE QUI A FINI, SANS VERITABLE SUIVI, A ANNAPOLIS IL Y A UN PEU PLUS D’UN AN.

BUSH NE S’EST JAMAIS INVESTI AUTANT POUR LA PAIX QUE POUR LA GUERRE, OU LA LUTTE CONTRE LE TERRORISME, QU’IL A UNE FOIS ASSIMILE A UNE CROISADE.  LE CHANGEMENT AVEC CETTE POLITIQUE DOIT DONC ETRE NET, ET URGENT.  “URGENT” - MAIS COMMENT, VU LA CONJONCTURE?

LE PRESIDENT OBAMA AURA – C’EST LE MOINS QU’ON PUISSE DIRE – DU PAIN SUR LA PLANCHE.  NON SEULEMENT AU MOYEN-ORIENT MAIS TOUT D’ABORD DANS SON PROPRE PAYS.  CAR UNE AMERIQUE AFFAIBLIE ECONOMIQUEMENT, MORALEMENT, ET INTELLECTUELLEMENT NE PEUT PAS CONDUIRE UNE QUETE INTERNATIONALE POUR LA PAIX, AVANT DE SE REDRESSER.

VOUS POSEZ LA QUESTION, “QUEL ROLE A JOUER POUR L’UNION EUROPEENNE?”  JE REPONDS, CITANT LE PRESIDENT OBAMA: “L’AMERIQUE N’A PAS DE MEILLEUR PARTENAIRE QUE L’EUROPE.”  SUR LES NEGOTIATIONS ISRAELO-PALESTINIENNES, MAIS AUSSI SUR UNE RESOLUTION DU PROBLEME NUCLEAIRE IRANIEN, L’EUROPE POURRA JOUER UN ROLE CLEF AVEC UNE ADMINISTRATION OBAMA.

AU SEIN DE L’OTAN, QUI REGROUPE LES ETATS-UNIS AVEC LA PLUPART DES PARTENAIRES EUROPEENS, L’ARRIVEE DE BARACK OBAMA POSERA DE NOUVEAU LA QUESTION DU PARTAGE DES RESPONSABILITES.  EN AFGHANISTAN, LE NOUVEAU PRESIDENT VOUDRA ACCELERER LA LUTTE CONTRE LES TALIBAN ET AL-QAEDA, ET CECI NECESSITE UN ROLE RENFORCE POUR LES MEMBRES EUROPEENS DE L’ALLIANCE ATLANTIQUE.  CHOSE PLUS FACILEMENT EVOQUEE QUE REALISEE.

SUR D’AUTRES QUESTIONS QUI TOUCHENT LA REGION DU GRAND MOYEN-ORIENT – PAR EXEMPLE, LE ROLE DE LA TURQUIE COMME PONT GEOSTRATEGIQUE ENTRE L’EUROPE ET LE MONDE MUSULMAN - PLUSIEURS NOTES DISCORDANTES POURRAIENT S’ENTENDRE ENTRE L’EUROPE ET LES ETATS-UNIS D’OBAMA.  MAIS, COMME A EVOQUE SON SECRETAIRE D’ETAT-DESIGNEE HILLARY CLINTON LORS DE SON DISCOURS RECENT DEVANT LE SENAT: “DES DESACCORDS SERONT INEVITABLES, MEME PARMI LES AMIS LES PLUS PROCHES,  MAIS SUR LA PLUPART DES QUESTIONS INTERNATIONALES, NOUS N’AVONS PAS D’AUTRES ALLIES PLUS DIGNE DE CONFIANCE” [QUE L’EUROPE].

DANS L’EQUIPE OBAMA-CLINTON DE CONSEILLERS POUR LES PROBLEMES DU MOYEN-ORIENT, TOUT N’EST PAS PARFAIT.  COMME A DIT L’EXCELLENT JOURNALISTE ROGER COHEN DU NEW YORK TIMES ET DU HERALD TRIBUNE, “L’EQUIPE DE REVE” AURAIT DU INCLURE DES NOMS COMME PAR EXEMPLE SHIBLEY TELHAMI, FAWAZ GERGES, ET JAMES ZOGBY.

OR, ILS SONT ABSENTS.  TANDIS QUE PLUSIEURS ANCIENS CONSEILLERS DE L’ADMINISTRATION CLINTON SONT TOUJOURS PRESENTS, TEL DENNIS ROSS (ANCIEN NAVETTEUR POUR LA PAIX), JAMES STEINBERG (ANCIEN HAUT RESPONSABLE AU DEPARTEMENT D’ETAT); DAN KURTZER (ANCIEN AMBASSADEUR AUPRES D’ISRAEL), ET MARTIN INDYK (QUI, AVANT D’ETRE AUSSI L’AMBASSADEUR AMERICAIN EN ISRAEL, FAISAIT PARTIE DU PLUS IMPORTANT LOBBY PRO-ISRAELIEN A WASHINGTON). 

EXPERIMENTES, CERTES.  MAIS COMME LE DIT ROGER COHEN, IL MANQUE UN CONTRE-POIDS PROVENANT DE LA TRES IMPORTANTE COMMUNAUTE ARABO-MUSULMANE AUX ETATS-UNIS.  CECI SERA PRIMORDIAL SI MON PAYS ESPERE REPRENDRE LE ROLE D’INTERLOCUTEUR ESSENTIEL ENTRE LES ETATS ARABES ET ISRAEL, ET SI LES ETATS-UNIS PENSENT FORMER UNE EQUIPE DE TAILLE AVEC L’UNION EUROPEENNE POUR UNE SOLUTION GLOBALE AUX NOMBREUX PROBLEMES DE LA REGION.

TOUT N’EST PAS PARFAIT EN CE PREMIER JOUR DE LA PRESIDENCE OBAMA.  DANS LE FILM “LAWRENCE D’ARABIE,” PENSEZ A LA SCENE OU LE CHEF DE TRIBU JOUE PAR ANTHONY QUINN – ETONNE DE TROUVER UN COLONEL LAWRENCE MORTEL, FAILLIBLE – LUI DIT “TU N’ES PAS... PARFAIT!”  NOUS AUSSI, NOUS SERONS DECUS PLUS D’UNE FOIS PAR UN HOMME QUI VEUT INCLURE DANS SA REFLECTION DES OPINIONS DIVERGENTES, MEMES CELLES QUI SONT A L’OPPOSE DES NOTRES.

MAIS NOUS NE SOMMES QU’AU DEBUT.  LE CHANGEMENT DEMANDE DE L’AUDACE, ENCORE UN MOT EMPLOYE PAR MON TOUT NOUVEAU PRESIDENT.  QUI AURAIT PENSE QU’UN ANCIEN MILITANT CONSIDERE COMME “TERRORISTE,” MENACHEM BEGIN, ARRIVE A LA TETE DE SON PAYS, AURAIT ACCEUILI L’ANCIEN PUTSCHISTE ANOUAR SADATE, LUI MEME DEVENU CHEF D’ETAT, POUR ETABLIR UNE PAIX QUI DURE DEPUIS PLUS DE 3 DECENNIES ENTRE LEURS PAYS?

ATTENDONS UN PEU, LAISSONS NOTRE NOUVEAU CHEF D’ETAT ETABLIR SA LISTE DE PRIORITES – IL VA CERTAINEMENT PLACER LE MOYEN-ORIENT PARMI LES PLUS URGENTES.  MAIS N’OUBLIONS PAS: LA TOUTE PREMIERE DES PRIORITES SERA DE METTRE FIN A UN PROBLEME ESSENTIELLEMENT DE RESPONSIBILITE AMERICAINE: LE RETRAIT EN BON ORDRE DES TROUPES AMERICAINES DE L’IRAK.

D’UNE FACON PERVERSE, PEUT-ETRE QUE LE PRESIDENT BUSH AVAIT RAISON APRES TOUT QUAND IL A DIT AU DEBUT DE SON PREMIER MANDAT  “LA ROUTE DE JERUSALEM PASSE PAR BAGDAD.”  MAIS CE N’EST PAS LE BON ITINERAIRE QUE BUSH A CHOISI.  IL FAUT PRENDRE LA SORTIE – METTRE FIN A LA PRESENCE DES TROUPES U.S. EN IRAK – AFIN D’AVANCER AU COEUR DU MOYEN ORIENT VERS UNE SOLUTION AU PROBLEME ISRAELO-PALESTINIEN.

BARACK OBAMA COMMENCE SON MANDAT AUJOURD’HUI, A L’HEURE MEME DE NOTRE DISCUSSION.  RESTE A VOIR SI LA SITUATION SUR LE TERRAIN LUI LAISSERA LE TEMPS NECESSAIRE DE REUNIR TOUS LES ACTEURS, EN CONCERT AVEC L’EUROPE, AFIN D’OEUVRER POUR UNE PAIX DURABLE ENTRE ISRAEL ET UN ETAT INDEPENDANT DE PALESTINE. 

MERCI.

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President Obama, In Present & Future Tense

Brussels      January 20, 2009

The dateline is important - no way I'd let this long-awaited Inauguration Day go by without at least a little congratulatory post to honor the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.

I just returned from the party organized by my friends at Democrats Abroad Belgium, a good bash at the local Hilton.  As might be expected, a very international crowd, all overjoyed that new American leadership is at the helm.

Earlier, I had the distinct pleasure of referring to "President Obama" at a conference on prospects for change in US Middle East policy.  No more "President-Elect" stuff.  And it was almost a bigger kick to refer to "former President George W. Boosh" (no, I pronounced it correctly).

More on the Mideast conference in a future post, but it being late, and my stamina being no where near that of our new President, I am going to say good night, and good luck.  President Obama will need lots of the latter, to accompany his good sense and his great communication skills.

And, just as a parting gift, I recommend Bob Herbert's Op-Ed "I wish you were here" in today's New York Times.  Bob speaks of his own family's experience with the struggle for Civil Rights, and provides a rare tribute to one of the men who made today possible - President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Obama DOD: Order Mercy & Comfort For Gaza Victims

Let me explain.  The United States Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort (photo).  Robert Gates is the Secretary of Defense, and will continue his job uninterrupted by the upcoming Inauguration - President-Elect Obama has asked him to stay on.

Secretary Gates could issue an order to the Military Sealift Command, in charge of the hospital ships, to bring them out of "reduced operating status (ROS)" at their home port of Baltimore Maryland, which takes a maximum of five days.  *See below for ships' capabilities.

Deployment of one of the hospital ships off the coast of Gaza could be one of the very first actions ordered by the new Commander in Chief.  Already, the French humanitarian relief organization "Medecins Sans Frontieres" is pressing the French government for similar action.  With the close US-Israel ties of which all administrations, Republican and Democratic, are proud, US Navy hospital ships should have a good chance of access to the Gaza coastline.  Once hostilities cease.

Israel chased away an Iranian relief ship the other day, accusing it of aiding Hamas.  Presumably it would not be as inhospitable to an American hospital ship, but you never know.  Israel did sink the USS Liberty during the June 1967 Six Day War.

Since the inhabitants of Gaza have nowhere to go (they are already refugees from previous Arab-Israeli wars, and are blockaded, walled-in, and currently being bombarded day and night), it is appropriate that nations that preach humanitarianism should instead come to them.  Since the munitions raining down on the non-combatants and combatants alike are of US manufacture, it is only fair that US military surgeons help treat the victims.

I've been on board the USNS Comfort.  It's a veritable floating hospital.  It even has a special armored operating room in case the projectile that hit you is still live.

Mr. Gates, please order it to "Stand To."  So that on January 20 (or maybe the 21st), President Obama can make his first command a mission of Mercy - and Comfort.

*Description: Two hospital ships owned and operated by Military Sealift Command provide emergency, on-site care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations. The hospital ships' secondary mission is to provide full hospital services to support U.S. disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide

Features: USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) each contain 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants. Each ship is equipped with a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters. The ships also have side ports to take on patients at sea.

Background: Both hospital ships are converted San Clemente-class super tankers. Mercy was delivered in 1986 and Comfort in 1987. Normally, the ships are kept in a reduced operating status in Baltimore, Md., and San Diego, Calif., by a small crew of civil service mariners and active duty Navy medical and support personnel. Each ship can be fully activated and crewed within five days.