Since none of the parties to whatever deal is made is trustworthy or has any intention of honoring its obligations thereunder given their past performance, the only possible explanation is madness and cynical p.r. and/or weapons sales.
"Both reports emphasize how hard it would be to secure this agreement, so once again we have to wonder why Biden is wasting time, resources, and limited political capital on a deal that will be extremely difficult to get and wouldn’t be worth anything to the United States in any case."
The "reward" is for the Biden Administration to be able to claim a bigger policy win than the equally silly Abraham Accords. Whether the deal makes sense for anyone or will be adhered to is irrelevant.
What matters is scoring points, especially scoring points at the expense of the Administration's domestic and international rivals.
In all the many diplomatic initiatives, speeches, essays and so forth about how nice it would be if only Israel and its neighbors could "secure a deal" and become friends, the real barrier is never addressed: the foundational ideology of Israel, namely Zionism. It seems so obvious: how can the populations who have lived in Palestine and surrounding areas since before the arrival of Zionist pioneers possibly accept a foreign ideoogy which rejects them? It is high time to get back to the basics. If Israel wants to exist, it must do so without Zionism. No military might can overcome this hurdle.
Isn’t the fact that the Saudis are already aligned to the idea of a normalization deal with Israel kinda a normalization of that relationship already? You know, minus the photo op of smiling sheiks at a Tel Aviv falafel stand.
Is it really necessary to give them free license for uranium enrichments and sending South Carolina high-school linebackers to die for the Saudi right to starve Yemenese children?
Since none of the parties to whatever deal is made is trustworthy or has any intention of honoring its obligations thereunder given their past performance, the only possible explanation is madness and cynical p.r. and/or weapons sales.
I’ve heard speculation.that it’s a bluff on Biden’s part to blow up the Netanyahu government, so there’s that positive angle...
"Both reports emphasize how hard it would be to secure this agreement, so once again we have to wonder why Biden is wasting time, resources, and limited political capital on a deal that will be extremely difficult to get and wouldn’t be worth anything to the United States in any case."
The "reward" is for the Biden Administration to be able to claim a bigger policy win than the equally silly Abraham Accords. Whether the deal makes sense for anyone or will be adhered to is irrelevant.
What matters is scoring points, especially scoring points at the expense of the Administration's domestic and international rivals.
In all the many diplomatic initiatives, speeches, essays and so forth about how nice it would be if only Israel and its neighbors could "secure a deal" and become friends, the real barrier is never addressed: the foundational ideology of Israel, namely Zionism. It seems so obvious: how can the populations who have lived in Palestine and surrounding areas since before the arrival of Zionist pioneers possibly accept a foreign ideoogy which rejects them? It is high time to get back to the basics. If Israel wants to exist, it must do so without Zionism. No military might can overcome this hurdle.
Isn’t the fact that the Saudis are already aligned to the idea of a normalization deal with Israel kinda a normalization of that relationship already? You know, minus the photo op of smiling sheiks at a Tel Aviv falafel stand.
Is it really necessary to give them free license for uranium enrichments and sending South Carolina high-school linebackers to die for the Saudi right to starve Yemenese children?