From people such as mathloom who understand the region. Opinions from the neoconservatives who are in bed with israel are not welcome considering they provide absolutely nothing to this discussion. thank you
Thanks, and I think there are plenty of people on this board who understand various sides of the region in the way I do or better. But I have to stick by my principles and say I'm not that interested in having a one-sided conversation. I would rather personally ignore the people who don't add anything to the conversation rather than totally exclude anyone who I/you consider a neoconservative. To some people on this board, I'm a neoconservative Middle Easterner, an extremist, even a terrorist by some people's standards. But if we cut out the opinions which we don't agree with, then we're essentially just talking to ourselves and finding people who agree with us. Look forward to hearing you opinion on Mr Peres.
That is fine and dandy. i just don't want this to get into a petty debate like many of the other threads in this forum become. I don't know much about peres and i wanted to get opinions on him. I do not care to hear from the neocons because i already know what they are going to say. i just want objective opinions on him. In terms of whether he is a hardcore zionist, a middle of the road guy, or what have you. Again i don't know much about him and would like to hear about whether he is a viable leader that can help bridge the differences in the region.
Peres is an opportunist, and has little credibility in political circles in Israel. He's the president, which is sort of a ceremonial title with little power for politicians like him, in their twilight. But he's paid his dues, working in public service all his life, so there's that. The closest I can think of is a Bob Dole type of reputation for spending his life as a politician. Internationally, he has a reputation for being a leader of the peace camp in the 90's and being pro-Oslo, and the heir apparent to Rabin, but clearly that didn't work out so well. He sold out quickly to keep his job, and while I think he's sincere about wanting peace, he's definitely not the kind of guy that would try to change Israeli public opinion or make unpopular decisions if he had to. Traditionally, Peres is a francophile, and enjoyed very good relations with DeGaulle. It's this relationship that built the Israeli nuclear program, and Peres can take credit for that...it happened with full support from the French and Peres' sweet talking. Otherwise he was an early follower of Ben-Gurion and was traditionally a socialist, but again, his ideology is subject to how public opinion blows. He's also in his mid-eighties and seems reasonably healthy and mentally sound, but his reputation as a great statesman is really oversold. Not the worst politician in Israel, but he's pretty much a lame duck at this point in his career, and even his own party (Labor) see him as a bit spineless. He's still hated less than Barak.
I guess all I know about this cat is that he took over for Rabin and then got beat by Bibi, possibly for being a moderate. Then Barak beat Bibi for being a hardliner. Then Sharon, then the money launderer, and then they restarted the loop.
From an outsiders POV Peres seems wishy washy. I would compare him more to Arelen Specter than Bob Dole.
