Posted by Julian Borger Tuesday 14 December 2010 12.59 GMT guardian.co.uk
Holbrooke was locked in a long-running tussle with the lead White House "war czar", Douglas Lute. The mutual animosity was fuelled by different personal styles. Lute saw Holbrooke as a block to creative thinking. Holbrooke thought Lute's ideas were not grounded in reality. Most importantly, Holbrooke helped kill a Lute initiative earlier this year to back the creation a new UN special envoy empowered to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. The terms of reference for such an envoy were put together by the veteran Algerian diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi.
The most likely candidate for the job was Brahimi himself, despite his age (he is 76) and his unpopularity in Islamabad. Lute was a fan and flew to Paris to discuss the initiative. But the current UN envoy to Kabul,Staffan di Mistura, objected, arguing it was an unnecessary duplication of roles. He wanted to be in charge. Crucially, Holbrooke (and possibly General Petraeus) took di Mistura's side, and the idea was shelved. Instead, a small "Salam" group would be put together in di Mistura's office, although that has yet to get underway.
Nothing is certain, however, until the new power constellation in Washington falls into place after Holbrooke's departure from the scene.
Posted by Julian Borger Tuesday 14 December 2010 12.59 GMT guardian.co.uk
A good post by Borger. My own thoughts are these. Holbrooke's last words are being reported by the White House spin machine as 'End the war in Afghanistan'. This, someone should have told them, is the Hollywood ending. Why not pitch it at ' Suffer the little children to come unto me. The little orphans from Fallujah and Kandahar.............I'm going now.... tell Obama to fight on..... yes we c..c..ca.......... Curtain Falls.
I posted a short video about his death last night from Al-Jazeera.
ReplyDeleteI was happy to leave it at that.
But when the spin meisters came out with this "stop this Afghan war" it offended me to no end.
He was not nick named the "Bulldozer" for nothing.
He is/was a Neocon Israel Firster wearing a D on his lapel.
He was/is part of the problem, not the solution.
His goal was to Balkanize the region. Just as he did in the Balkans.
Ethnic cleansing is a part of Balkanization. And he was ok with that.
He thought he could pull a Kosovo in Afghanistan. he misjudged.
The question now remains.
Who will his fellow hawk Shiilary replace him with.
I wonder if they will also advertise that Dennis Ross the Uber Zionist was suppose of had his position.
I am glad you reflect my own view of Holbrooke, RZ. He had form with the Suharto regime too in the past. I missed your post last night but will catch it now.
ReplyDeleteWho were some of the main players during Kosovo?
ReplyDeleteHolbrooke, Clinton, Albright, Gen, W. Clark, Khalilzad etc.
All globalized Neo/Zio/Lib/Cons.
Even back then it was about Eurasia, and Zbigs Grand Chess Game.
They could not wait for the death of Tito.
That was their green light to start the divide and conquer process of Balkanization.