I am mining for reasons to be optimistic today.
While some of us here are not that happy about Obama Administration news of 17,000 more troops being put at risk of death and dismemberment, there are signs of a new way of thinking, different from the war on terror, mentality at work in the new administration.
News that the Administration seeks to have a dialogue with countries that disagree is welcome.
Syria, Iran, and Russia have responded. Turbaned men are marching for peace in Pakistan's SWAT region. Thousands march for peace after Pakistan sharia deal
Whoa. Is peace breaking out all over? Heh. Scraping for signs of it everyday.
Idea: Why not stop sending trillions down the rat hole of military contractor corporate welfare ticks?
Bring the troops home, spend a more on Hillary and company?
But I digress. Today, I am looking for data that supports policy change. Looking to reclaim my optimism.
Syria? Syria wants to talk? US is open to this? What a concept. Not much of a possibility during the Bush years.
Assad urges US to rebuild diplomatic road to Damascus In rare interview, Syrian leader calls on Obama to restore envoy and make good on promise of dialogue
snip
Referring to Obama's call for countries to "unclench their fists" , Assad said he believed the new US president had been referring to Iran. "We never clenched our fist," he declared. "We still talked about peace even during the Israeli aggression in Gaza."
snip
Later this week, Assad will see Senator John Kerry, the influential chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and the most senior American to visit Damascus in years. Kerry has been advocating the swift return of a US ambassador, which was withdrawn in 2005 after the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The killing was widely blamed on Syria, despite strenuous denials from Damascus.
This is great news. Like this more than the Republicans twittering around Irag and Iran in hopes of staying the course and keeping teh bloat in the Defense Budget.
Russia has offered to help with Afghanistan. Of course, we have reason to always want to peal back the layers here. But still, this represents a change of the last couple of years.
Asia Times Feb 18, 2009 US and Russia see common cause
By the time the Kremlin spokesperson spoke, US officials were already heading for Moscow. The first to arrive was US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Moon. His mission was to try to negotiate a deal with Moscow to open new supply routes across Russian territory for NATO forces in Afghanistan. A pleasant surprise awaited Moon - the Russians readily agreed. By Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was explaining, "We confirmed without delay that we are ready to do this ... and this transit will go ahead within the next few days."
This agreement is extremely important for the US. It virtually creates a joint Russian-American logistics hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan. A Russian regional expert compared the cooperation with land-lease supplies during World War II. The agreement envisages that the US will reach its container cargoes for Afghanistan at the Baltic port of Riga, Latvia. From there, the containers will be transshipped by rail across Russia and Kazakhstan and further either via Uzbekistan or via Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Moscow is committed to processing each American transit request within 24 hours.
This is apparently the result of Vice President Biden's talk in Germany in which he said that the US was ready to reset its approach. Go, Joe! Results to follow.
Iran. Oh, Iran. In reading the article linked above it is made clear that two areas where Russia and the US have common ground is stemming the export of violent acts by extremists coming of Afghanistan, and preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. How to accomplish this? Send in more troops, both Russian and US? Hope this is not what they have in mind.
Invade Iran, or try diplomacy? Though the Decider is gone from here, Iran still has their big mouth. Bush Administration said at time they wer trying this, but if they did, failed miserably though they would time to time say they were reaching out. Hard to believe.
Response from Iran to Obama Administration overtures seems guarded, but is possibly positive. Stay tuned to see what can actually be accomplished with the supreme leaders behind the scenes.
From Iran's hard-liners, tough talk – but pragmatism as well Positions that suggest little flexibility may simply be a strong opening bid by those who have the ear of Iran's leaders.
Senior conservatives in Iran are raising the bar for US-Iran engagement, reinforcing positions that leave little room for compromise as the Obama administration searches for ways to talk to the Islamic Republic.
After 30 years of high-octane animosity, such voices appear to rule out change. But analysts say they may reflect a maximalist opening bid, as Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei – the man who will make the final decision on any US ties – weighs the advice.
And you know it don't come easy, said Ringo. Well IRAN TV wants to interview Obama and give him access to the people. This is bound to have a positive impact. The man sure can talk pretty, and people all over the world have responded to the promise of change.
Though President Obama's first media interview on Saudi TV was welcomed by many as a sea change from the Bush Administration's position, at least one voice cautions against such a shotgun approach to engaging muslims:
what or who 'the Muslim world' is and what he means by 'respect'.
Political Islam is a growing phenomenon hatched from a pre-modern theology and fertilized by Arab fascism. It continues to spawn militant and non-militant offshoots across the globe. Sadly, there are no signs that President Obama has any plans to venture into this debate yet. There was a glimmer of hope when he intimated that the United States will not accept blame for acts of terror or the networks which generate them. There was also hope in his statement during his inaugural that, "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history." But there are no signs at all yet that President Obama is willing to take the stances against Islamism necessary to play a role in shaping that history. Sadly, if there is ever going to be a post-despotism, post-Islamism, post-'Muslim world'-Muslim world, it will probably happen in spite of American diplomacy not because of our diplomacy.
It will be interesting to see what Secretary of State Clinton is able create in support of change in the Muslim world as she travels to Indonesia. More power to her, and the Obama Administration in bringing about that change.