Dr. James Zogby

Viewpoint with James Zogby: June 11, 2009 Episode

Posted on Thursday June 11, 2009

On Thursday’s “Viewpoint with James Zogby,” Maya Berry filled in for Dr. Zogby to discuss the Lebanese and Iranian elections, as well as MidEast-US. relations with guests Rob Malley of the International Crisis Group; Sameh Shoukry, Ambassador of Egypt to the United States; Graeme Bannerman, former State Department analyst for the Middle East, and Afshin Molavi, of the New America Foundation.

Rob Malley who recently stopped in Syria, discussed US-Syrian relations, as well as his view of what will come of the Obama administration’s stance on Israeli settlements. Malley believes that a “page has been turned” in US-Syrian relations following the election of President Obama, leading to a “more favorable period”. This is especially signaled by Special Envoy to the Middle East, Senator Mitchell’s visit to Syria. Noting that there will be difficulties, Mally nonetheless stated that “we will see a more political discussion” involving Syria and Israel.

Mally also discussed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the Obama Administration’s tough stance on Israeli settlements, calling Obama’s stance a “definite change in rhetoric” from previous presidents. Also predicting what Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will say in his speech on Sunday, Malley was pessimistic about the likelihood of Netanyahu to agree to a settlement freeze. “No Prime Minister would/will agree to a settlement freeze”. Malley believes that the Obama administration will have to move to a different issue rather than staying focused on the settlement freeze, for example fixing the border.

Ambassador Shoukry, who was in attendance at President Obama’s speech in Cairo, discussed the feeling on the ground in Egypt. “two days before [the speech] I could feel the excitement building” He believed it went “very well”, and said that the Egyptian people met Obama with a sense of admiration and left the speech with a “belief of sincerity in commitment”.

The Lebanese elections, said Graeme Bannerman, marked “terrific progress” in Lebanon. He also noted the significance of the fact that all parties said the elections were fair. (Click here for a complete list of election results.) In general, Bannerman said he was “optimistic about Lebanon”.

Afshin Molavi described the elections in Iran as lively, and a sort of “revolutionary elite battle”. He remarked upon the widespread involvement in the campaigns and the excitement amongst the crowds. Molavi mentioned that the issues that drive Iranians to vote are mainly domestic issues, not international. At the end of the show, Molavi made his predictions that there will be a run off between current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad and opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi.