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The Arab Spring Has Given Way to a Long, Hot Summer

(Financial Times-UK) Richard N. Haass - Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya have had their turn; now Syria occupies center stage. Syria's future rests on whether a handful of Alawite generals are prepared to keep killing their fellow citizens to preserve the Assad regime and, more fundamentally, Alawite primacy. Syria's violence is just one further sign that the promise of the Arab spring has given way to a long, hot summer in which the geopolitics of the Middle East are being reset for the worse. The effects go wider still. Relations between Israelis and Palestinians are increasingly strained. Israelis are more reluctant than ever to make concessions in light of the disarray on their borders, while the new voice for Arab publics emerging from the upheavals makes it more difficult for Arab governments to compromise. The Quartet needs to work with, not dictate to, local parties. Launching a new negotiation is surely preferable to taking the issue to the UN General Assembly, where positions are likely to harden. The writer is president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
2011-07-08 00:00:00
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