UAE and Israel Reach Peace Agreement

[Sir Slash]

Wearing mine used to be great for picking-up hot chicks back in the day. Now it makes a somewhat adequate coaster.  :hug:

[Labbug]

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-reacts-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-honor

[Jarhead0331]

Yeah. And this is actually deserved. Unlike when Obama received the honor in 2009 based on what he promised to accomplish, rather than on what he actually achieved.

Trump should have received this award when he crossed the DMZ in Korea, engaged in real diplomacy with North Korea and deescalated at a time when it appeared the peninsula was on the brink and nobody was talking.

Where is Pete Dero in this thread? Why no linked article about how this peace accord was really not engineered by Trump and it's just a ploy to distract from his failure to prevent the spread of covid-19? At least we have Tpek to equivocate.

[Pete Dero]

Yeah. And this is actually deserved. Unlike when Obama received the honor in 2009 based on what he promised to accomplish, rather than on what he actually achieved.

Trump should have received this award when he crossed the DMZ in Korea, engaged in real diplomacy with North Korea and deescalated at a time when it appeared the peninsula was on the brink and nobody was talking.

Where is Pete Dero in this thread? Why no linked article about how this peace accord was really not engineered by Trump and it's just a ploy to distract from his failure to prevent the spread of covid-19? At least we have Tpek to equivocate.

Ok.  You asked for it  >:D : this nomination is no big deal :

A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria. A letter of invitation to submit is not required. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later.
There are 318 candidates/nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020, of which 211 are individuals and 107 are organizations.
318 is the fourth highest number of candidates ever. The current record of 376 candidates was reached in 2016.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/


And for the second time, he has Mr Tybring-Gjedde to thank. In 2018, the right-wing politician was one of two Norwegian lawmakers to nominate Mr Trump for the same prize, then for his efforts to bring reconciliation to North and South Korea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54092960

So he was also nominated for crossing the DMZ in Korea.


If this leads to real peace in the area (and I hope it does, but we need some time to see how this turns out) he should get the credit for engineering this deal.

[Tripoli]

Good point. The UAE didn't want the UAV's to start showing-up.  ;D

I'm sure part of their rationale were the UAVs that started showing up from Iran already. ;)

Iran was already making some loud noises about having control of both sides of the Persian Gulf, one way or another.

Hopefully the UAE leader doesn't get the Anwar Sadat treatment.

....

Now we'll see whether Trump gets nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. I have a hard time believing the Nobel Committee would award it, but he deserves more than just a nomination for this.

Looks like you called that one, Jason

[Sir Slash]

I know the Left will find a way to pooh on Trump's parade, that's all they CAN do about it. The, 'Right-Wing' politician stuff was predictable but totally absent when Obama got his nomination from the Left Wing pols. And since when is Peace a bad thing? Anywhere? By whoever accomplishes it? Only in the world of, "Win-At-All-Costs" politics. If Trump could cure blindness, the Left would go pro-blinders to thwart him. 

[Anguille]

For me, one of the most important aspect from Trump's administration is that no new war has started.

[Jarhead0331]

For me, one of the most important aspect from Trump's administration is that no new war has started.

Amazing, isn't it? Especially considering how the left was convinced he would kick off the apocalypse. Perhaps walking loudly and carrying a big stick works too. 

[Tripoli]

What are the odds that Trump will get the prize?  Consider this:

In December 1987 Regan and Gorbachev signed the  INF treaty, which banned an entire class of nuclear weapons.  Who won the 1988 Peace prize?  The UN Peacekeepers. (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1988/press-release/)  Of course, the Nobel committee partially rectified this error by awarding the prize to Gorbachev in 1990 for his single handed peaceful ending of the cold war. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1990/press-release/  >:D

[Sir Slash]

Wait! Do you mean... this could be....political?  :o

[Labbug]

Another positive step in the process.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-bahrain-israel-mideast-deal-peace

[W8taminute]

Trump seems to be on a roll.  Could this be the beginning of a covenant with many?

[Sir Slash]

Shhh.... I'm trying to listen to the sounds of heads rolling in Tehran.  ^-^

[steve58]

...and Trump gets a 2nd nomination.  Trump's second Nobel Peace Prize nomination comes from Sweden.

[airboy]

I've been doing some reading on this and have some thoughts on why it has happened and why it has happened now.  Some of this comes from a WSJ column by Walter Mead on 9/15/20 pg A17.

First, lets look at the strategic situation in the Middle-East among the Arab countries.

The three strongest military powers currently are Turkey, Iran and Israel.

Turkey has given up on joining the EU and their leader is following Muslim nationalism as a path to gain and hold power.  Turkey now allows groups that wish to overthrow other Muslim governments sanctuary in Turkey - specifically the Muslim Brotherhood active in Libya and Egypt.  Turkey has turned sharply away from Israel and now embraces the Palestinians.   Their economy is a mess.

Iran is a regional military power that actively seeks to disrupt other governments in the region.  They are probably one of the top world governments attempting to topple other governments in the world.  Iran is a special enemy of the Gulf States, moderate Arab governments, Israel, and Sunni governments.  They have started cooperating with the Turks.

Israel has decided that a two state solution will never work unless the Palestinians change their leadership.  There is no real "peace party" left in Israel.  They are happy to have better relations with most any government that does not seek to do them harm.

The US under Trump has:
1] Withdrawn a lot of troops and has little interest in a lot of boots on the ground.
2] Had far closer relations with Israel
3] Decided that Iran was totally untrustworthy and been far more aggressive on sanctions.
4] Been friendlier with the Gulf States.

But, Biden has stated he will:
1] Go back to the "peace plan" with Iran.
2] Is hostile to USA oil production
3] Is much more hostile to human rights issues with the Gulf States and more moderate Islamic States.
4] Is far more critical of Israel.

A lot of the Mideast/Arab countries are very unstable right now.
Libya - has no effective central government.
Iraq - Is very weak.
Syria - Is very weak
Egypt - Is very weak and has been hammered economically by the collapse of tourism world wide.  They also are targeted for overthrowing the current government by both Iran and Turkey.
Lebannon - Is dominated by Hezbollah & Iran

The Gulf States & more moderate Muslim States at this moment see that Israel may be their best military ally in the short to medium term.  They have grave doubts about Biden supporting them or being tough with Iran.  They see both Turkey & Iran acting to destabilize their governments.

What is striking to me, is the Arab League voted to censure the UAE and could not get majority support to censure them. 
This was a big change.

I look at the Gulf Nations and countries like Kosovo and Morocco they can have better relations and perhaps military cooperation with Israel against very real regional threats to their governments from Iran & perhaps Turkey.  They fear Biden getting power.  The time to move is now while they have a favorable administration in Washington.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on what is going on, why it is going on, the reason why things are moving so quickly right now.  Feel free to provide any facts I've overlooked which either support or disprove my opinions.  I think my facts are right - but my interpretation could be far off.