Hillary Clinton After Mideast Trip: Diplomacy Success?

[Beacool]

AFP – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles as Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit speaks.

By JOE KLEIN

It was Halloween night in Jerusalem, and Benjamin Netanyahu came dressed as a peacemaker. "We're prepared to start peace talks immediately," the notoriously reluctant Israeli Prime Minister proclaimed, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton standing at his side, poker-faced. "I think we should ... get on it and get with it."

It was a ploy, of course. The Palestinians were tangled up in themselves, yet again. They had elections looming, and their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, had to hang tough: he was demanding a total freeze to Israeli settlement-building on the West Bank - which was precisely what the Obama Administration had previously said it favored. Netanyahu was offering a partial freeze, not including new settlements in East Jerusalem, the desired capital of a future Palestinian state. This was a nonstarter for the Palestinians, but it had the holographic glow of a step forward. It was an "unprecedented" offer, Netanyahu trumpeted, with the joy of a chess master springing a trap.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091105/us_time/08599193484300

An interesting article with lots of pics.

:-)

[jenmito]

1. I'm glad she's such a team player,

implementing President Obama's agenda. :)

[Beacool]

2. They seem to get along very well.

Despite all the background noise from the naysayers.

:-)

[jenmito]

3. Yup. n/t