The Arab Peace Initiative - fascinating article

The Crown Prince of Bahrain, in The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/16/AR2009071602737.html?sid=ST2009071603564

Palestinian political developments

Two very big, but little-reported developments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8203362.stm and http://www.thejc.com/articles/changes-fatah-boost-pragmatists

A sick joke in Cuba

The BBC reports that Cuban President Raul Castro told his "parliament" that: "he had not been elected to return Cuba to capitalism." And I'm inwardly shouting like Toby Ziegler: "Of course he wasn't elected to return Cuba to capitalism! That's because HE WASN'T ELECTED!" What really gets me is that if the Castro brothers were fascist dictators, we'd (rightly) never hear the end of their infamy. But because they're communists, people who would never have gone on holiday to Pinochet's Chile or apartheid-era South Africa think that there's something romantic about a Cuban regime that puts people in labour camps for the crime of saying: "Hmm, I've been thinking, how about maybe someone else should be allowed to stand for President?" Amnesty International tells it well here: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/cuba

Obama's Middle East Chess Game

From the FT, an excellent analysis by Philip Stephens. Find the whole article here; this comes highly recommended.

In the heart of the EU: sickles, hacks and hatred

From Hungary comes news of a local councillor urging council colleagues to take up "sickles and hacks" and "cleanse" the local synagogue. And if I was blogging every time I saw a story like this, we'd all be here all day. The same newspaper that first alerted me to this story carried, on the same page, a story about a Jewish family having to flee Yemen after a grenade was thrown into its home. We live in interesting (if under-reported) times, and I'm not sure if everyone realises just how interesting they unfortunately are.

BBC DEC row: confusions and contradictions

I am a passionate supporter of the BBC and its editorial independence. I strongly resent any row in which shouty people try to force the BBC to change an editorial decision. The price we pay for the BBC's neutrality is that it sometimes makes decisions with which one disagrees - and nobody should seek to shout those decisions down, however unpalatable they may sometimes be. The BBC's decision not to show the DEC Appeal is the BBC's decision and the BBC's decision alone. It is ironic that the very people (including Government ministers!) who are now insisting that the BBC change its mind are accusing other people of having bullied the BBC! Pot, kettle, etc. I suggest that the DEC could produce a Gaza appeal which is in line with the BBC's editorial policy and rules on impartiality. The Red Cross, a constituent body of the DEC, is raising funds for Palestinian AND Israeli civilians affected by this conflict. For example, at time of writing, if you text LIFE to 81400, it will cost you £1.50, most of which will be split equally between a hospital in Gaza and a hospital in Israel. Israel too has had its wounded, and the emergency medical service Magen David Adom (which gets no govenment funding) has faced greatly increased costs as a result of Hamas' rocket attacks (and Magen David Adom has opened a field hospital for wounded Palestinians in Gaza, with an emergency room and four ambulances to take patients to Israeli hospitals). Surely DEC could produce an appeal, based on the Red Cross's work, that the BBC would consider impartial and so be able to broadcast? Of course, the immense suffering of Palestinian people in this latest Gaza conflict far outweighs that of Israelis (which has still been considerable). It is vital to get aid into Gaza and I applaud British charities' work there. If the BBC does decide to show the DEC Appeal after all, then I will not be opposed to that. What I oppose is bullying of the BBC by politicians and others who insist that the BBC MUST show this appeal - hands off the BBC! Especially you Government Ministers, Messrs Bradshaw and Alexander. A final thought: a recent poll (http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/pollresults.htm if you scroll down to the questions about Gaza) of UK public opinion shows that 24% of people blame Hamas for the Gaza War, 18% blame Israel and 58% blame both sides equally or are not sure who to blame. That 58% do not go on demonstrations or shout angrily at the BBC. But they do pay their licence fee and expect the BBC to be an utterly impartial guide to the deeply complicated politics of Israel, Palestine and the wider Middle East.

Good news from Poland

Poland's centre-right Civic Platform party appears to have won enough seats to lead a coalition following the country's General Election. This is good news, as it spells defeat for the governing, conservative Law and Justice Party, whose policies are bad news for Poland and the EU. The media are exaggerating when they call Civic Platform "Poland's 'liberal' opposition party", but they are still much better than Law and Justice. It will be interesting to see how Poland's Democratic Party, social liberals who sit with us in the European Parliament, have done, once all the votes are counted.