Again? But That Trick Never Works
The Bush Administration has invited a number of parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict (while making a point to not invite Iran) to Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss Middle East Peace.
This seems like a complete waste of time. Neither side seems to really trust the other, and both sides seem to have staked out positions that the other finds completely unacceptable. In addition, the United States is not seen as a neutral party by the Arab "street." But the biggest issue seems to be that these are going to be "talks about talks." Rather than really getting down to negotiations over a settlement, this is about creating statement that will serve as a "work plan" for more serious talks. It strikes me that if the parties were serious, they could do that sort of thing on their own.
1 comment:
This reminds me of social service agencies having meetings about meetings. When I was still attending those, it seemed to me that a lot of it was for show - a performance of readiness and functionality more for each other's benefit than the populations they were serving. The Annapolis meeting sounds like that to me - more about the appearance of doing something than any actual intention to do something. The analysis of social work that says it can't actually solve the problems it seeks to address without eliminating its own usefulness has always seemed compelling to me. It doesn't really apply to front line workers, but at some level, there's a dependency relationship between the helper and the helpee that the helper is not in any hurry to resolve.
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