President Barack Obama delivered an address to the U.N. General Assembly that was designed, in part, to repair the damage caused by last year's address to the U.N. General Assembly. The theme of the speech was "Peace is hard."
The statement would seem to be obvious, but Obama, correctly, believed that it had to be explained to the delegates at the General Assembly. Peace is not the absence of war, he suggested, nor can it be obtained by platitudes or simple agreements. Obama came very close to the position that peace has to be established and maintained by strength.
Obama offered an example Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, the other countries racked by the "Arab Spring." and the recent execution of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs. In each case it was American strength, moral and actual, that created peace and a chance at least for freedom, according to Obama.
Mind, there is every potential for most of these venues to go south very quickly. Turkey, for instance, is becoming more aggressive against Israel and is creating alliances among Sunni Muslin states such as Egypt, partly with a few of countering Shiite Iran.
Obama also mentioned Syria, now wracked with a popular revolt, and Iran, which is driving for a nuclear arsenal, as unfinished business. The Assad regime in Syria has to go and Iran has to stop trying to get nuclear weapons. The Iranian regime should go as well, come to think of it.
However, Obama got to the main point of his address, which was the drive for Palestinian statehood. Obama somewhat carelessly suggested last year that by this year there would be a Palestinian state. This has inspired the Palestinian Authority to entreat the U.N. to give a state to the Palestinians.
Obama pointed out, correctly, that several things had to happen first before a Palestinian state could be established. Not the least of which is an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians about borders, refugees, Jerusalem and so on. This will be bitter news to the Palestinians who seem to have concluded that they can take a short cut to their aspirations by U.N. fiat.
Obama reminded the General Assembly (and also Jewish voters who are currently turning from him in droves) that America's alliance with Israel is unshakeable. He may not believe it, based on previous behavior, but the election in New York Nine has focused his attention/
Obama concluded his speech by touching on nuclear proliferation and a few other subjects, but the point about Palestinian statehood had been made.
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