Obama himself admitted that no single speech would change the course of history. He might have been selling himself short.
In an interesting piece in The American Prospect, Gershom Gorenberg argues that to say Obama’s speech to the Muslim world two weeks had no effect on what is currently going on in Lebanon, Iran, Palestine, and Israel, would be naive.
Barack Obama spoke in Cairo two weeks ago. The Middle East has been roiling since. The street scenes in Iran have pushed the surprise pro-Western victory in Lebanon’s elections out of the headlines, along with Benjamin Netanyahu’s pained, precondition-crippled acceptance of a two-state solution and the enraged Palestinian response. Two top Israeli intelligence figures scaling down the Iranian nuclear threat from looming Holocaust to mid-range risk — a major story for a calm week — has gone almost unnoticed.
[...]Whether Obama has had a small influence or a large one, the Middle East has already changed significantly. A few months ago, as [former director-general of the Israeli Foreign ministry] Liel points out, the radical bloc of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas appeared unstoppable. Now Hezbollah has suffered a political defeat. No matter what the immediate outcome in Iran, Liel suggests, this week’s events will leave “a certain scar” politically. The image of the Iranian regime as strong and stable has been shaken.
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