Obama’s Middle East Speech

Today at 11:40 EDT, President Barack Obama will give a major speech on U.S. policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. The speech will be delivered from the State Department. The Wall Street Journal argues that this first speech by Obama from Foggy Bottom symbolizes the triumph of a civilian approach to foreign policy. It can be streamed live here. Following the speech, the stream will switch over to a Twitter chat with Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. Viewers can participate in a Twitter debate moderated by Foreign Policy’s Marc Lynch and NPR’s Andy Carvin by following the hashtag #MEspeech.

Politico predicts there will be little talk on Israeli-Palestinian conflict given Obama’s recognition of little progress on that front during a fundraiser, yesterday. Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations says focusing on the conflict would be “foolish.”  During a press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Danny Ayalon, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said Israel has nothing to worry about in Obama’s speech.

Remarks made earlier this week by former National Security Adviser Jim Jones implied that a Marshall Plan may be in store to consolidate democratic transitions in the region. However, the Politico article notes that the $2 billion in debt forgiveness and other aid recently announced for Egypt falls short of $120 billion (in today’s value) that was allocated to rebuild Europe, which is working on its own aid package for the region.

The piece also argues that the additional $1 billion in aid pledge to the hereditary monarchy of Jordan on Tuesday does not signal a more consistent position on democracy assistance. Though White House spokesperson Tommy Vietor defended the aid as going “hand in hand” with democratization.  Blogger Issander El Amrani predicts the speech will follow the legacy of the Cairo speech, which resulted in productive science and technology projects but delivered little in terms of democracy and human rights.