Middle East talks --- it must be election season....

Obama presses for Mideast peace in UN address (AP)

I'm getting kind of cynical - but dang, cynicism seems to work.

You can almost predict when elections are coming when the red tie crowd from DC starts talking about peace in the Middle East.

The Middle East Conflict has given more than its fair share of photo ops for US politicians, UK politicians, and benevolant sheikhs. Lo and behold - the red ties often pursue these photo ops some time around election season. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, GW (Secretary Rice), Tony Blair, and now Obama.

I'm really starting to question whether their interest in the Middle East is genuine.

It's been so beneficial, you can almost speculate reasonably that it's in the politician's interest to sustain the conflict --- so they can get their photo ops, write books, and give speeches (regardless of re-election ambitions).

I pledge to ignore political grand-standing. I won't attend their talks, buy their books, or sing my praises about them.

And this time I think it is even more useless than usual. Even the Palestinians are divided about their goals.
I don't know why Obama wants to enter this quicksand.

He will be damned if he doesn't as he is damned when he does. Election politics as usual.

Photo-fish wrote: He will be damned if he doesn't as he is damned when he does. Election politics as usual.

That's just it --- peace has merit by itself.

I think peace - or efforts to secure it ---- should not be about politics - and am getting kind of tired of it being just that.