A refreshing perspective. Off Dan Reihl's blog..
Is Mid-East News Depressing? - Ultimately, No
Current news from the Middle East may be terrible, even horrific, but it, for very good reasons, is far from depressing. That's a better characterization of the news from the region for the last fifty years. We are experiencing a defining moment in world history and it's far from depressing.
From Pajamas Media:
“Egyptian leader also discloses Iranian offer to negotiate settlement with Hizbullah as part of Arab initiatives to resolve crisis, but Mubarak calls Tehran’s bid ‘a trap’”
And this from the G8:
“We demand first that the Israeli soldiers be returned to Israel healthy, that the attacks on Israel cease, and then naturally for Israel to halt military action.”
And this:
“Condoleezza Rice said that the United States is not interested at this point in a cease fire that would allow Hizbullah and the Hamas to violate it by firing rockets toward Israel.
The Arabs, led by Saudi Arabia, have condemned Hezbollah. A decade ago the only reports we'd be seeing would include pictures of mobs in the Arab Street shouting "Death to Israel". As tragic and possibly far from over is the current conflict, there has been movement in what amounts to glacial forces over the last decade and since we invaded Iraq.
The only hope that ever existed for bringing down the state infrastructures behind the world's worst terrorist organizations (Iran and Syria) had to start with driving a wedge into the Middle East - a region that has been more monolithic in its pro-terrorist, anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric than any other over the last fifty years.
The current news may be tragic, as it is, after all, news of war - but, so far, depressing it is not. If current positions by the majority of nations hold, we have crossed the ultimate Rubicon that needed to be crossed in order to finally bring peace to one of the most troubled regions of the world.
Not just Egypt, but now, through their rhetoric and led by Saudi Arabia, the majority of Arab nations have indicated a willingness to peacefully co-exist with a secure Israel. There hasn't been so profound a shift, or moment in contemporary world events since the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
Current headlines should give us pause, as no one really wants a war to take place; but there's more reason for optimism in today's news from the Middle East, then there is rationale for being depressed.
Now, if we can only defeat the ideological enemy within.
I've noticed that .. and it's very telling
Not just Egypt, but now, through their rhetoric and led by Saudi Arabia, the majority of Arab nations have indicated a willingness to peacefully co-exist with a secure Israel. There hasn't been so profound a shift, or moment in contemporary world events since the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
I had to post this again. Very good reminders that some MAJOR corners have been turned in the ME. Post 2751, full blog article
Great post...that last line is a keeper.