"President Trump will preside over a White House signing ceremony Tuesday in which Israel will establish formal ties with two Arab states, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in what Trump calls the flowering of his Middle East peace plan."

"The agreement, called the Abraham Accord in honor of the three Abrahamic religions rooted in what is now Israel and surrounding lands, lays the ground for diplomatic, economic and other ties between Israel and two Persian Gulf neighbors," WaPo reports.

Since it's the Washington Post, it's interesting to check the highest rated comment, which is sure to trash Trump. The only question is how. Here:

Typical Trumpian PR stunt. How can you negotiate a "peace deal" between countries not at war and that have been cooperating with each other for years? This isn't a peace deal but an arms deal disguised as a peace deal in which the UAE and Bahrain get access to the latest American weapons while Israel continues to brutalize the Palestinians. Nor does this stop Israel's annexation of the West Bank because Israel has already annexed the West Bank in all but name with its extensive network of illegal settlements. True peace requires freedom for the Palestinians, the chance to live their lives out from under the boot-heel of Israeli occupation.

"It’s a geopolitical earthquake."

"Just go down the scorecard, and you see how this deal affects every major party in the region — with those in the pro-American, pro-moderate Islam, pro-ending-the-conflict-with-Israel-once-and-for-all camp benefiting the most and those in the radical pro-Iran, anti-American, pro-Islamist permanent-struggle-with-Israel camp all becoming more isolated and left behind.... It was Trump’s peace plan drawn up by Jared Kushner, and their willingness to stick with it, that actually created the raw material for this breakthrough.... This deal will certainly encourage the other gulf sheikhdoms — Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — all of which have had covert and overt business and intelligence dealings with Israel, to follow the Emirates’ lead. They will not want to let the U.A.E. have a leg up in being able to marry its financial capital with Israel’s cybertechnology, agriculture technology and health care technology, with the potential to make both countries stronger and more prosperous. Three other big winners here are: 1) King Abdullah of Jordan. He feared that Israeli annexation would energize efforts to turn Jordan into the Palestinian state. That threat is for the moment defused. 2) The American Jewish community. If Israel had annexed part of the West Bank, it would have divided every synagogue and Jewish community in America, between hard-line annexationists and liberal anti-annexationists. This was a looming disaster. Gone for now. And 3) Joe Biden. Biden, if he succeeds Trump, will not have to worry about the thorny issue of annexation, and he should have a much stronger pro-American alliance in the region to work with. The big geopolitical losers are Iran and all of its proxies: Hezbollah, the Iraqi militias, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen and Turkey...."

From "A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast/The Israel-United Arab Emirates deal will be felt throughout the region" by Thomas Friedman (NYT).

"President Trump’s Middle East peace plan... calls for a two-state solution in which Israel would also freeze settlement construction for a period of four years."

"Dubbed by Trump as the 'deal of the century,' the plan sets a number of benchmarks for Palestinians to reach in order to achieve statehood. The benchmarks include fighting terrorism, increasing free speech, and other reforms... 'I was not elected to do small things or shy away from big problems,' Trump said.... The proposal would also give Palestinians more land by offering land swaps south of Gaza. The future state would have to be demilitarized.... The plan was three years in the making and spearheaded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Palestinians have preemptively rejected the proposal, with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calling Trump a 'dog.'"

The Washington Examiner reports.

"In 2007, I watched a string of vehicles pass from Iran into northern Iraq... the choice was particularly tricky: whether or not to attack a convoy that included Qassem Suleimani...."

"There was good reason to eliminate Suleimani..... But to avoid a firefight, and the contentious politics that would follow, I decided that we should monitor the caravan, not strike immediately.... Suleimani has grown from a military commander into a ghostly puppet master. His brilliance, effectiveness, and commitment to his country have been revered by his allies and denounced by his critics in equal measure. What all seem to agree on, however, is that the humble leader’s steady hand has helped guide Iranian foreign policy for decades—and there is no denying his successes on the battlefield. Suleimani is arguably the most powerful and unconstrained actor in the Middle East today. U.S. defense officials have reported that Suleimani is running the Syrian civil war (via Iran’s local proxies) all on his own.... His staunch defense of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has effectively halted any progress by the Islamic State and other rebel groups, all but ensuring that Assad remains in power and stays solidly allied to Iran.....  Suleimani is singularly dangerous. He is also singularly positioned to shape the future of the Middle East."

From "Iran’s Deadly Puppet Master/Gen. Stanley McChrystal explains exactly why Qassem Suleimani is so dangerous" in the Winter 2019 issue of Foreign Policy magazine.

"I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming."

Faida Hamdy, the inspector who confiscated the stall of the vegetable vendor who set himself on fire....

What Netanyahu said about Hitler and Palestine.

"'Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews,' ... the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, protested to Hitler that 'they’ll all come here,'referring to Palestine. 'So what should I do with them?' Mr. Netanyahu quoted Hitler as asking Mr. Husseini. 'He said, "Burn them."'"

Responding to criticism, Netanyahu said: "My intention was not to absolve Hitler of his responsibility... [b]ut rather to show that the forefathers of the Palestinian nation, without a country and without the so-called occupation, without land and without settlements, even then aspired to systematic incitement to exterminate the Jews. Hitler was responsible for the Final Solution to exterminate six million Jews; he made the decision.... It is equally absurd to ignore the role played by the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, a war criminal, for encouraging and urging Hitler."

From "Netanyahu Draws Broad Criticism After Saying a Palestinian Inspired Holocaust" in the NYT.

"The father of a 20-year-old woman let her drown in Dubai rather than let lifeguards rescue her."

"Two rescue men were at the beach and they rushed to help the girl. However, [the father] considered that if these men touched his daughter, then this would dishonor her. It cost him the life of his daughter. The father was a strong and tall man. He started pulling and preventing the rescue men and got violent with them. He told them that he prefers his daughter being dead than being touched by a strange man."

The father was arrested.

"A local man came up and said 'Please — what does this mean?' I explained I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza..."

"... by posting photos on my website — but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens."

"HarperCollins omits Israel from maps for Mideast schools, citing 'local preferences.'"

"Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, told the Tablet that it would have been 'unacceptable' to include Israel in atlases intended for the Middle East."

"My grandmother remembers the Arab world much differently than people view it today."

"She remembers a place known for its music, innovation, and intellectual abilities. I may be naive, but I want to help work toward unity in the Arab world — both between our countries and within our countries — so that we can get back to that place again."

"People fight to the end because they know that losers in such wars get killed or ‘ethnically cleansed.’"

Said Fareed Zakaria, quoted by Alan Dershowitz in "Syria crisis shows why Israel must remain strong."

"If we’re going to be successful, part of what we’re going to have to do is get out of the formulas and habits that have blocked progress."

"Both sides are going to have to think anew."

Obama, at a news conference with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority.

What was surprising, given how much Mr. Obama appeared to give up on the peace process at the end of his first term, was how ready he seemed to take up the challenge once again of trying to broker a deal that creates a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel.

“I absolutely believe it is still possible, but it is very difficult,” Mr. Obama said. “If we can get direct negotiations started again, I believe the shape of a potential deal is there.”

I don't see why it's "surprising" that he'd say something bland and minimal like "still possible" when he's actually taken the trouble to go over there. It's not like before he'd said "I absolutely give up." He merely "appeared to give up." Has this appearance changed? He'd never gone to Israel before, not in his entire first term. Now, at the beginning of his second term, he's getting the visit in, so you won't be able to say he never went. What is "surprising"? There's nothing new. But, he says, "Both sides are going to have to think anew." Is that new or is the same old hopelessness?

ADDED: It just crossed my mind for the first time in a long time: Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That took a lot of pressure off him to make the usual gestures at solving the Palestinian problem. Or do you think he feels he ought to justify the prize retroactively?

"Obama plans to 'listen,' not present Mideast peace plan: Kerry."

Don't present. Vote present.

Actually, I'm being unfair. SOS Kerry didn't use the old Obama-hater's buzzword "present." He said "sort of plunk":

"We're not going to go and sort of plunk a plan down and tell everybody what they have to do... I want to consult and the president wants to listen."

The insinuation is that those who present actual plans are clods.

Remember how Kerry, when running for President, was always supposed to be the man of nuance, in whose delicate hands we should place the troubles of all of the world? It was supposedly so important to snatch the power out of the clumsy paws of George Bush.

UPDATE: Saying hello to Secretary Nuance: "Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday fired a rocket into Israel for the first time since a cease-fire reached three months ago ended an Israeli offensive against the militant Islamist group Hamas...."

"It is a racist statement and this man doesn't realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation."

"This man" = Mitt Romney.

ADDED:  Word is that Romney wasn't just comparing Israel to the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority. He also compared the U.S. to Mexico and Chile to Ecuador — other examples of countries that are geographically close and have "wide income disparities." Romney was using ideas in the books "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond and "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" by David Landes. Fine. Let's have the transcript!

"Center of gravity in oil world shifts to Americas."

WaPo reports.

From Canada to Colombia to Brazil, oil and gas production in the Western Hemisphere is booming, with the United States emerging less dependent on supplies from an unstable Middle East....

Oil produced in Persian Gulf countries — notably Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq — will remain vital to the world’s energy picture. But what was once a seemingly unalterable truth — that American oil production would steadily fall while the United States remained heavily reliant on Middle Eastern supplies — is being turned on its head....

Production has risen strikingly fast in places such as the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, and the “tight” rock formations of North Dakota and Texas....

Perhaps the biggest development in the worldwide realignment is how the United States went from importing 60 percent of its liquid fuels in 2005 to 45 percent last year. The economic downturn in the United States, improvements in automobile efficiency and an increasing reliance on biofuels all played a role.

What will the world be like when we don't depend on the Middle East anymore? They depend on our dependence. What will they be like if/when we don't particularly care?

And what will South America be like 10 years from now?

And what's stopping you from moving to North Dakota?

ADDED: Romney should make oil independence a big issue. This is a very exciting development — economically and geopolitically — and Obama is vulnerable.

"Solidary with Palestine" — a banner at the anti-war march today in Madison.

"Obama’s Middle East Is in Tatters, Utter Tatters."

"It is not actually his region. Still, with the arrogance that is so characteristic of his behavior in matters he knows little about (which is a lot of matters), he entered the region as if in a triumphal march...."

It's Martin Peretz, railing against our battered President.

Do you remember Obama and Honduras?

It was back in July 2009:

As military "coups" go, the one this weekend in Honduras was strangely, well, democratic. The military didn't oust President Manuel Zelaya on its own but instead followed an order of the Supreme Court. It also quickly turned power over to the president of the Honduran Congress, a man from the same party as Mr. Zelaya. The legislature and legal authorities all remain intact.

We mention these not so small details because they are being overlooked as the world, including the U.S. President, denounces tiny Honduras in a way that it never has, say, Iran. President Obama is joining the U.N., Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and other model democrats in demanding that Mr. Zelaya be allowed to return from exile and restored to power. Maybe it's time to sort the real from the phony Latin American democrats.

Please compare Obama 2009 to this year's Obama, reacting to events in Arab countries.

"A Muslim woman from Saudi Arabia and a Jewish native of Brooklyn — 'the future of the world to be.'"

That was Bill Clinton's wedding toast to Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner last July.

Oh, that's an unfortunate prophecy for the world!

"Seeking to harness the seismic political change still unfolding in the Arab world..."

"... President Obama for the first time on Thursday publicly called for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would create a non-militarized Palestinian state on the basis of Israel’s borders before the 1967 war that led to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza."

ADDED: Reactions:

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said Obama, whom he served as U.S. ambassador to China until last month, undercut an opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to build trust. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Obama "threw Israel under the bus" and handed the Palestinians a victory even before negotiations between the parties could resume. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called it "the most dangerous speech ever made by an American president for the survival of Israel."