Will the new push by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to have the Palestinians and Israelis talk about peace bear any fruit? Does the European Union’s decision to label Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist group go far enough? Does Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey’s letter outlining U.S. military options make U.S. involvement in Syria more or less likely? JPC Director of Policy Matthew RJ Brodsky discusses these and other issues on ABC’s “Capital Insider” with Morris Jones.
Asked if he was still skeptical about significant progress on the Palestinian-Israeli front, Brodsky replied that “people rarely make money betting on Middle East peace.” He explained the many obstacles standing in the way of progress.
The European Union labeled Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist group but even Hezbollah draws no distinction between the wings of the group. While it is a symbolic step in the right direction, it is bound to stymie efforts to impose meaningful costs on the organization.
Gen. Dempsey recently testified that he believes it is likely that Assad would remain in power in Syria a year from now. That same day, the White House began hedging its bets about Assad. For two years the Obama administration had been saying Assad’s days are numbered. Now Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “Bashar al-Assad, in our view, will never rule all of Syria again.” Dempsey’s letter is the first time the military has explicitly described what it sees as the formidable challenge of intervening in the Syrian civil war.
