[September 17, 2020] Those who study statesmanship and the experienced leadership know how difficult it is to make progress on old and emotionally-laden political issues. Two days ago, the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel signed a peace deal with one another. Casual observers will not understand the significance of or difficulty in this achievement, and that is unfortunate.
Those who study leadership closely understand better than most of the difficulty of getting anything of significance accomplished in large, complex organizations. Independent countries are the pinnacle of a complex organization on steroids. For those reasons and with my experience in the Middle East, I am surprised at the accomplishments that President Trump’s team has successfully concluded.
Peace in the Middle East has been unequivocally one of the priorities of every U.S. Presidents’ administration for the last 50 years. While much has been done to bring peace to the region, little has worked. True, the Middle East has changed in the previous half-century, but a shifting dynamic is always more challenging to work through successfully. In previous decades, including my time with the U.S. military and State Department, significant efforts have been made to move from war to peace.
“Hearing Arab officials refer to Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu in friendly terms before a worldwide audience is mind-boggling.” – Scott Johnson, PowerLineBlog
Here are a few observations that made some of this success possible:
- The U.S. unquestionably backs its allies, and by doing so, gives them confidence in U.S. continued support. S. President Trump has been clear about and open with his support of Israel and cooperating Middle East countries.
- Trade deals have been negotiated that are good commercially and politically for both the U.S. and its allies.
- The U.S. did not make the Palestinian “problem” part of the deal. The Palestinians have historically been a fly in the ointment, so to speak, that collapsed previous agreements.
- Part of the peace package is an increase in commerce, trade, technology sharing, and cooperation by the militaries of each country.
- The U.S. rejected the nuclear deal with Iran (Shia), increased sanctions on them, and stayed friendly with other mostly Sunni Arab countries. This placed Iran in a weak position to disrupt the region with its on-going terror campaign.
- President Trump lived up to the hype about him being a “deal maker.”
It is time to think back to just a few months ago when the media reported that Trump was getting us into a war in the Middle East. It shows how wrong our media has been regarding the strength of the United States and the need for peace in a region that has been rife with conflict for at least two millennia.
Great peace deal.
And one that should not be overlooked because of political partisanship.
Gen. Satterfield, thanks. Excellent list of your thoughts. #1 should be first as it is. Amazing what happens when trust works and you back your friends rather than abandoning them.
Freedom and peace is breaking out worldwide despite the Marxists.
“100,000 in Montreal Canada March for Freedom — They Chant ‘USA-USA-USA,’ Fly ‘Trump 2020’ Flags & Protest Overbearing COVID-19 Policies”
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-police-heroism-in-compton/
This is just too good to read and see. Canadians for Trump and flags that say StopTheBullShit. How crazy is that?
It seems likely that the assassination of Iranian Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani has contributed to the climate in which Arab states are emboldened to make peace deals with Israel. And all the talking heads in fake media and crazy Democrats said it was cause WAR – beat the war drums crazy Nancy Pelosi is just a nutjob wanting power and killing the US at the same time.
This is an important DEAL. Only those who are smart, articulate, understand the culture, and are given the authority to act, can eventually do something like this. It takes time and resources beyond what most of us believe possible. Too many people in the US are worried more about a pedophile’s rights than making worldwide peace.
So true. Harry, I think you have something here. We are simply too used to the hard stuff getting done that it makes us feel inadequate so we have to make something big out of something small.
This deal followed a string of recent diplomatic victories. Last month, Trump brokered a deal in which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) officially recognized Israel. Two weeks ago, he announced that two European countries, Muslim-majority Kosovo and Christian-majority Serbia, had reached a peace deal between themselves and with Israel and would set up embassies in Jerusalem.
Ever read about this? Nope. Why? Fake media. Our media is truly the enemy of the people of America.
The Palestinians tried to force the Arab League to condemn the UAE-Israel deal, to no avail.
Yes, the Palestinians are the problem. You would think that their method of trying to get something for nothing would be eventually figured out and stopped. Oh, that’s the definition of insanity but terrorism is insanity anyway.
As it should be. The Palestinian “problem” is here because the world allowed it to be.
I don’t know about you guys, but I was on Gen. Satterfileld’s website yesterday and it simply would not load. I got an error. But, now I see it back up. Oh, great article today and very appropriate for our times. People should wake up and pay attention to this. Today, I guess, we are just used to hard things getting done.
The snowflakes think they are part of the Star Trek movie and everything is done in a “replicator.” Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha………….
“Snowflakes” you’re kililng me Walter.
Makes me happy to read the forums. Warning: be careful drinking your coffee when reading the forums.
😊😊😊😊
Excellent article and educational. Thanks Gen. Satterfield. Also, thanks for getting your older articles up that were lost due to your website crash.
Always a great reason to come here and read the latest in leadership.
Yep, exactly why I read this blog. Dale, good to see you on today.
This is one of the most downplayed, underreported events this year. No one in the US seems to understand how important this is in starting to settle the historic problems in that region.