World Politics Review managing editor, Judah Grunstein, appeared on two France 24 short-format programs, Face Off and Face à Face, this morning to discuss George Mitchell’s chances for success in brokering a stable ceasefire and longterm peace accord. English-language program here, French-language program here.
“There is a thin line between the right and duty to formulate a policy based on subjective political values, and the conscious or unconscious temptation to abuse or ignore the intelligence process. It is one thing for a statesman to listen carefully to his intelligence advisers, then make a decision counter to their best judgment; and another for him to wield his political strength and authority in the interest of receiving only that information which conforms to his preconceived ideas and political biases. . . . It has been suggested that the unresolvable tension between policymaking and intelligence rests in [...]
The other day, Steve Clemons cited this Daniel Levy quote (from a Guardian article) on how George Mitchell might use his experience in Northern Ireland to forge an effective approach to Hamas: In Northern Ireland, a distinction was drawn between the political wingof the Republican movement, Sinn Fein, and its military wing, the IRA.The same might be done with Hamas’s political wing and its armedmilitia, the Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Levy said. I ran that by our very own Frida Ghitis, who sent me this link to a piece she wrote on Hamas for McClatchy, along with these remarks, which she [...]
