Middle East Desk Update, July 26, 2010

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:
- Wikileaks documents Pakistani military collaboration with Taliban
- Palestinian-Israeli negotiations

GRAHAM USHER
Usher commented: “In many ways the Wikileaks documents confirm what we’ve known all along. Pakistan is not going to act in a way that is detrimental to its own interests, and the alliance with the Afghan Taliban is in its interest. The enemy for Pakistan in Afghanistan is India, not the Taliban. The conflict between Pakistan and India in Kashmir must be addressed if Pakistan is to provide a supporting role to the US war effort. Without a regional solution, the US will not be able to secure Pakistan’s full support in Afghanistan.”
Graham Usher is a contributing editor of Middle East Report. He is the author of "Catcher’s Mitt: Obama, Pakistan and the Afghan Wars to Come," Middle East Report Online, December 31, 2009.

CHRIS TOENSING
Toensing commented: “It is true, as per the White House pushback, that little in the Wikileaks documents is entirely new. What this trove does, however, is present fine-grained confirmation of suspicions on the part of war critics that the Afghanistan war is essentially a fool's errand. It is also intriguing that the leaked intelligence assessments are field reports, meaning that it may have been junior officers -- the men and women on the front lines -- who spilled the beans."
Chris Toensing is executive director of MERIP and editor of Middle East Report.

MOUIN RABBANI
Rabbani commented: "The currently bruited negotiations are not doomed to failure. They failed before they even started. They have no terms of reference, and certainly none in any way consistent with a resolution of the conflict. Even the most casual observer realizes that the Netanyahu government has no intention of ending the occupation, Obama has no will to force Israel to leave the Occupied Territories and Abbas has no alternative to negotiation, even if it is about nothing. As has consistently been the case since the early 1990s, the purpose of this process is just that -- process. But it is not meaningless diplomacy by any means, because it serves as crucial cover for Israel's consolidation of the occupation and domination of the Palestinians."
Mouin Rabbani is an independent analyst based in Amman, Jordan. He is a contributing editor of Middle East Report.

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