Raw Reality Meets Obama’s Optimism

The difference was unimaginable; from festive trails of women and men in front of the polling station’s to the roaring engines of riot police penetrating crowds of demonstrators in the streets of Tehran.

The elections in Iran resulted in a brutal demonstration of power by President Ahmadinejad, who claims to have won re-elected. But the way the riot police clean the streets and the restriction of the use of SMS and Internet reinforces the suspicions of fraud and helps to grow an ever-larger opposition.

The uncompromising actions of Ahmadinejad is a major setback. Not only for the Iranian supporters of reform-minded candidates, but also for the West, particularly the U.S. President Obama.

Obama put himself and his administration in a vulnerable position when he offered an “open dialogue” with Iran so the country could make concessions on its nuclear program . Obama called upon Ahmadinejad to “open his fist”, but unfortunately the Iranian leader was not willing to do that this weekend.

Since his first day in office, Obama raised many hopes, promising to put forth an active and aggressive “policy in the Middle East”. His speech in Cairo recently gave a passionate push to that policy; these past few days, however, show how raw the reality in the Middle East can be.

Yesterday the White House anxiously awaited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “King’s Speech”. Would he rocognize the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians and stop the construction of the controversial settlements as per Obama’s request?

Netanyahu did not present, in that respect, a convulsive “closed fist”, but did concede a bit of relaxation towards the U.S. demands. For the first time, he spoke about a Palestinian state, the starting point of all international peace efforts. At the same time, PM Netanjahoe suggested many conditions (demilitarization, no return of Palestinian refugees within Israel, an undivided Jerusalem) that the Palestinians will never agree to. It is much like the statement that no new settlements would be built, but that the existing ones may expand .

Obama spoke in Cairo full of optimism but has had to realize that, in the Middle East, this is certainly not a question of days or even years. The developments in Iran and in Israel show how great his perseverance

must be.