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The Bahrain Conference: What the Experts and the Media Missed

(Fortune) Jeffrey Sonnenfeld - While U.S. media largely ignored last week's Bahrain economic summit, the global media saw something remarkable and historic unfold. The summit showcased different voices with new ideas and the economic resources to bring to life dreams of progress for the Palestinians. White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner unveiled a $50 billion economic plan whose implementation would be predicated on a future political peace agreement. His plan gives the parties a chance to visualize what the quality of life could be like when tensions subside, drawing on the remarkable economic-development successes in other countries that have been torn by past political violence, including Bangladesh and South Korea. The New York Times in an editorial dismissed the Bahrain initiative as "big-dream plans divorced from reality," echoing the historically unfounded cliche that diplomatic solutions must precede economic plans. What the Times overlooks is the failed history of "political solution first," which so far has usually meant there will be no solution. The writer is Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Management Practice at the Yale School of Management.
2019-07-02 00:00:00
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