BUSH TO ARAFAT: "DROP DEAD": I was fortunate enough to hear President Bush's magisterial speech while driving home yesterday.
I think the President's speech was the best one on the subject since...since the statement of "Whatever decision Minister Dayan makes, I wish him good luck" (or similar words to such effect), allegedly made by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to Israeli emissaries seeking assurances that the U.S. would not intervene if Israel would pre-emptively launch what became the Six-Day War. I cannot think of any public addresses that compare to it; certainly the amount of recognized realities in the speech far exceeded the recommended dosage for the digestive system of your average State Department official. But this site has a long-standing belief that free-riding is the best policy. Accordingly, in lieu of an extended exposition on the subject, I direct you to the following:
1-3: Steven Den Beste, who has outdone himself again in three separate posts: an overview, a discussion of the ramifications for the Arab world generally, and an argument why the speech should be viewed as an ultimatum paving the way for a larger war. I think the last piece may be more wishful thinking than intended policy, but let's hope it's true.
(As an aside - why is that something to be hoped for? Well, just to pick one example, is there another way to change a region with these types of kindergarten graduations? Tal G. provides an English translation of an article on the affair, along with a link to the Hebrew original.)
4-7: Start your Joe Katzman reading with this analysis of Palestinian strategy. (Unfortunately, the Stratfor piece referenced in the article is no longer freely available.)
Continue with this scenario as to how the current conflict could widen into something much, much bigger. Then see this piece about the abyss towards which the Palestinians and most other Arab states are careening, as well as this one.
8: This Stratfor item, freely available for now, discusses the ramifications of the speech for Saudi Arabia and the larger fight against Al Qaeda. It is a good summary of the Saudi motives behind their promotion of the Palestinian cause and attempted dissuasion of the U.S. from an invasion of Iraq.
9: David Brooks has a good short summary.
10: In Ha-aretz, David Landau got off the best soundbite: "Yasser Arafat, the seemingly immortal leader of the Palestinian national movement, was politically assassinated Monday by President George W. Bush."