Middle East Peace within Reach

As the world continues to revolve and the sun consistently rises, so does events which are becoming more and more clear that world peace may not be that far behind.

When this president was running for office, he was viewed and mocked as naïve because he had promised that he would extend an open hand to our enemies instead of a tight fist.  He had promised to speak frankly but friendly to all those leaders who want to come in from the cold.  Many of us never really placed much stock in that statement until now.

It can be assumed that after young Arabs saw the power of the American public bringing the first black man into office as president, they kicked off their Arab Spring.  Though they were not prepared for the results, they have begun their long hard journey to real democracy.  Next we see the shutting down of the Iraq War and the closing of the Afghanistan War.  These actions further showed world leaders that he might just be a man of his word.  Following this we see the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan which was again another promise made and delivered.  This not only reconfirmed world leaders belief that this man means what he say and say what he means.  Decisions made considering these events made it easier for countries to say it may be time for change.  Syria, who first denied having chemical weapons, now allowing inspectors to not only catalog weapons but destroy them too.  Iran’s new president speaks now with a flavor of cooperation and looks forward to being brought in out of the cold.  Even though all correspondence will be trusted but verified, it says a lot that they have even came this far.

With all this so far, one has to wonder what country will be next.  There are rumors that Korea’s Kim Ju may be next to reach out.  We can also say that while all this may be great, we must also be aware that there will be others who do not want these events to occur.  My mind immediately goes to Israel’s president Benjamin Netanyahu who spent the majority of his speech dismissing the latest move by the Iranian President.  This coming from a man who says the Iranian President is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and do not want peace that is still building settlements on the West Bank.  Such a hardliner may see his days limited and a peacemaker as his replacement.

The same could be said about Russian President Vladimir Putin but I think because of his efforts as facilitator in the Syria Crisis may just be enough to keep him in place because he has shown himself as a peacemaker instead of the usual hardliner.  The jury is still out on China and it is not known if they are currently searching for their own peacemaker.  Regardless, let’s take a few minutes to give glory to God and welcome world peace if indeed we can achieve even a few minutes of such.