Faith + Reason = Truth

(Almost) Peace in the Middle East

Ask for more than you really need.  Offer less than you’re really willing to give up.  Meet somewhere in the middle.

This timeless negotiating strategy works because it’s what everyone expects.  When one side unilaterally deviates from this norm, as I do whenever purchasing a new vehicle, the experience is very frustrating.  Rather than low-balling an offer and then moving towards a middle ground, I state exactly what I am willing to pay.  The last two times I did this, I did indeed leave with the exact deal that I set out to strike, paying exactly what my initial offer had been; however, I believe it may have actually taken longer to accomplish than if I had gone in with a lower offer and then moved to the middle.

What do the Israelis and the Palestinians actually want their end result to look like?  Only they know.  And certain Israelis most certainly have a different result in mind than do other Israelis; likewise with the Palestinians.  If either side or, ideally, each side, knew exactly what the other would actually agree to, then a deal could be struck.  But neither side knows what those magical requirements are.  I believe that Netanyahu and Abbas are actually getting familiar enough with one another to sense what it is that the other side would actually accept in terms of a deal for a Palestinian state.  The more time they spend together, and the closer they get, the tougher the competing factions on each side will seek to make the talks.  There will be blatant attempts at sabotage.  If a deal looks imminent, virtually assured, then an assassination attempt may actually be made.

They are so close, one can almost taste an agreement.  Let’s hope one gets done sooner than later, so that we can all see what the seeds of peace in the Middle East will allow the peoples of the world to harvest.

About Face for Russia

Pravda did a nice job yesterday with a short piece on Russia throwing its support to the West, in regards to possible sanctions against Iran for their newly discovered nuclear facility.

Actually, it's not newly discovered, which is where the behind-the-scenes stage setting begins.  One must always consider timing in announcements and headlines, whether they involve uncovered terrorist plots in downtown Dallas or uncovered nuclear facilities beneath a mountain in Iran.  Recall a couple of weeks ago, when the big deal in the news was that President Obama was scrapping the missile defense in Eastern Europe.  This came as a shock to most observers, experts who were unable to fathom why he would unilaterally remove a major thorn from the big bear's paw.  Surely, there must be something in return from Russia, mustn't there?

As the hours and days went by, it quickly became apparent that all eyes were on what Russia would do to reciprocate, in spite of the rhetoric from both sides that there would be no quid pro quo.  But in a staggering display of just how well-thought Obama's (and/or his team's) strategy can be, they played a several-year-old ace in the hole at the perfect time.  Knowing for years that Iran had the undisclosed, clandestine facility, and knowing that Ahmadinejad would be at the U.N. in New York, Obama took the extraordinary step a couple of weeks ago to "unilaterally" stop the missile shield in Eastern Europe, which the Russians wanted more than just about anything.  Then, to save the Russians the embarrassment of blatantly offering something in return, which they simply could not do and still appear to be as powerful as they like to appear, Obama dramatically revealed the presence of the facility when all the world's eyes were trained squarely on him, which in turn was quickly followed by Obama, Sarkozy, and Brown threatening sanctions against Iran (which could not actually be enacted without Russia's approval, an approval which would never come since Russia has resolutely stood against any such sanctions due to Russia's loss of revenue from building nuclear facilities in Iran), which in turn was immediately supported by Russia in light of the "newly disclosed facility" (which Russia likely knew of, and helped supply, all along).

The only question I have about the way these interactions play out is to what degree they are orchestrated beforehand, as opposed to each side taking leaps of faith that the other will know exactly what to do and when to do it.  Did Obama's team communicate with Medvedev's (sorry - Putin's) team before Obama called off the missile shield, and offer to do so only if Russia would back the sanctions?  And did Russia then say, "ok, we will back them, but ONLY if you provide reasonable cause for us to do so - say, for instance, the public disclosure of Iran's illegal facility under the mountain near Qom?"  Or did Obama's team bring that up as part of the initial gambit?  Or, as any Tom Clancy novel would have us believe, did a person on Obama's or Putin's/Medvedev's team simply know the counterpart on the other side so well, that all that needed to be done was for the first dancer to make a soaring leap and the rest of the ballet would gracefully, masterfully play out as it must?

World Changers Update

The racism blog that I contribute to is scheduled to get some nice pub on Monday.  If it happens, I'll provide a few more details on what will have transpired by then; in any case, please visit that site when you get a free minute or two!  I don't think I've provided the link through this site before, so here it is:
http://insidefromtheinside.com/

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's a multi-author blog about racism, featuring 10-12 black, white, and Hispanic men and women posting on a weekly basis.  Each author has an assigned day (mine's Friday) on which to post, although that can vary if something comes up or if the author just feels like posting more than once in a week.

Here's a copy-paste of the semi-informed post from last July:

July 21, 2008

World Changers 2008

I've finally "won" something:  the opportunity to change the world via writing.

     "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." – Margaret Mead

The above quote is provided courtesy of the Wizard of Ads, a.k.a. Roy Williams.  After reading his Monday Morning Memo that's been emailed to me for several years now, I'll finally get to meet the man himself this week at an intimate gathering of hand-picked writers down in Austin for 3 days.  The topics are journalism and racism, and the costs of the course and room and board are provided by his Wizard Academy.  It's modestly titled World Changers 2008.

This should be an extraordinary gathering of 2 instructors and about 12 writers who have all submitted writing samples, then been chosen from a pool of possibly millions (or maybe hundreds, or even tens) of applicants and who have agreed to write something on the topic of racism at least once a week for the next two years.  I'm one of them (note that I said the gathering, not the writers, would be extraordinary - I'm about as humble about my writing as one could be, and cannot begin to convey how honored and privileged I feel every time I think about this), and I'll provide additional details on the venue where the writings will be featured once I have them!

For practice, I've authored a couple of blog entries dealing with racism that you may have already read here, filed under the Harmony category of Worthreading:
     Don't Condone "Harmless" Racist Remarks
     Your Personal Endorsement of Slavery

It's gonna be enlightening, it may get ugly, and hopefully, maybe, a vast swath of the world will actually somehow change for the better.

 

I've finally "won" something:  the opportunity to change the world via writing.

     "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." – Margaret Mead

The above quote is provided courtesy of the Wizard of Ads, a.k.a. Roy Williams.  After reading his Monday Morning Memo that's been emailed to me for several years now, I'll finally get to meet the man himself this week at an intimate gathering of hand-picked writers down in Austin for 3 days.  The topics are journalism and racism, and the costs of the course and room and board are provided by his Wizard Academy.  It's modestly titled World Changers 2008.

This should be an extraordinary gathering of 2 instructors and about 12 writers who have all submitted writing samples, then been chosen from a pool of possibly millions (or maybe hundreds, or even tens) of applicants and who have agreed to write something on the topic of racism at least once a week for the next two years.  I'm one of them (note that I said the gathering, not the writers, would be extraordinary - I'm about as humble about my writing as one could be, and cannot begin to convey how honored and privileged I feel every time I think about this), and I'll provide additional details on the venue where the writings will be featured once I have them!

For practice, I've authored a couple of blog entries dealing with racism that you may have already read here, filed under the Harmony category of Worthreading:
     Don't Condone "Harmless" Racist Remarks
     Your Personal Endorsement of Slavery

It's gonna be enlightening, it may get ugly, and hopefully, maybe, a vast swath of the world will actually somehow change for the better.