Bono Makes Case for Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Many say Bono should've received the Nobel Peace Prize. Bono makes the case for Obama and the case for global progress on a number of fronts with leadership from Obama:

When Mr. Obama takes the stage at Oslo City Hall this December, he won’t be the first sitting president to receive the peace prize, but he might be the most controversial. There’s a sense in some quarters of these not-so-United States that Norway, Europe and the World haven’t a clue about the real President Obama; instead, they fixate on a fantasy version of the president, a projection of what they hope and wish he is, and what they wish America to be.

Well, I happen to be European, and I can project with the best of them. So here’s why I think the virtual Obama is the real Obama, and why I think the man might deserve the hype. It starts with a quotation from a speech he gave at the United Nations last month:

“We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.”

They’re not my words, they’re your president’s. If they’re not familiar, it’s because they didn’t make many headlines. But for me, these 36 words are why I believe Mr. Obama could well be a force for peace and prosperity — if the words signal action.
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All right ... I don’t speak for the rest of the world. Sometimes I think I do — but as my bandmates will quickly (and loudly) point out, I don’t even speak for one small group of four musicians. But I will venture to say that in the farthest corners of the globe, the president’s words are more than a pop song people want to hear on the radio. They are lifelines.
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The Nobel Peace Prize is the rest of the world saying, “Don’t blow it.”

But that’s not just directed at Mr. Obama. It’s directed at all of us. What the president promised was a “global plan,” not an American plan. The same is true on all the other issues that the Nobel committee cited, from nuclear disarmament to climate change — none of these things will yield to unilateral approaches. They’ll take international cooperation and American leadership.

The president has set himself, and the rest of us, no small task. NYT

Hillary Working For a Two State Solution

The Middle East boggles the mind. Israel bombs the life out of Gaza. We give $900 million for reconstruction of Gaza. Hamas starts its shenanigans again. Israel threatens to start bombing Gaza again and the madness goes round and round. Both sides seem so righteous and so stubborn. It's what might happen if you put the hard left in the U.S. and the hard right together on some land. 

Hillary has entered the fray for the first time as Secretary of State. If anyone can help, it's Hillary. She's ambitious and wants to make a mark. A peace deal would be a stroke of genius:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Tuesday to work with the incoming Israeli government, but delivered a clear message that could put her at odds with the country's next leader: Movement toward the establishment of a Palestinian state is "inescapable."
At the same time, Clinton said she would not dictate orders to Israel, saying the Jewish state would determine its interests. In her first visit to the region as secretary of state, she also pledged "unrelenting" support for Israel's security.
Prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood and has been critical of peace talks. But after meeting Clinton, he said the two had "found a common language."

Though Netanyahu opposes a Palestinian state (I totally don't get that), he seemed to conclude that they could work together:

Haaretz: Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem on Tuesday, saying following their meeting that he had "found common ground with Clinton in attaining the common goals of our two countries."

"We need to think creatively in order to move forward and create a different reality, both in terms of security and politically, and this is a common goal for both sides," Netanyahu added.

Clinton met with Netanyahu after having met with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni earlier in the day as part of a 36-hour visit, her first trip to Israel in her new capacity as secretary of state.

Netanyahu did not offer details on his meeting with Clinton, but mentioned that the conversation between them "was deep, important and good."

"We spoke about the Iranian issue and the Palestinian issue and we promised to meet again after the establishment of a government [in Israel]. We will work together closely in order to bring peace and prosperity to the region," Netanyahu concluded.

Hillary's also working to create better relations with Syria, which is next to Iraq. That's part of the regional strategy for peace.