The Periscope Post

The New York Times “President Abbas and peace talks”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has finally agreed to direct negotiations on a two-state solution; and now the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, “is stubbornly resisting”. The New York Times understood Abbas’s reluctance, and his wariness of Netanyahu – as well as the US. “Mr. Abbas no doubt is worried that the Palestinians will be blamed if negotiations fail,” it averred. But Abbas must also try to deliver what his “rejectionist rivals”, Hamas, cannot: a serious test of Netanyahu’s intentions. The paper was uncompromising in its assessment: “It is time for him to talk.”

USA Today “Gates cuts Pentagon fat but plenty of flab remains”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been attacking the “bloat” in the Pentagon’s budget. Gates has capped weapons systems, tackled bureaucracy and slimmed down civilian contracts. USA Today found this strategy “overdue and entirely welcome” but only gave Gates “partial credit”. The reason is this: “Instead of turning the savings back to fight the out-of-control national debt, Gates intends to recycle it all inside the Pentagon to beef up fighting forces and produce future weapons.” The paper sighed a mournful “hmm” to this tack. After all, wars end and savings are needed. “There’s no reason why the Pentagon can’t live with a freeze,” said USA Today: “if not now then in the near future.”

The Washington Post “Social security needs reform”

For the first time since 1983, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it receives from payroll taxes. The Washington Post was not impressed, seeing it as a “warning sign” that this “anomaly” will soon become the norm. Although many people claim that Social Security isn’t a problem, the paper disagreed. It advocated a “balanced solution” relying on “a combination of revenue increases and benefit adjustments”. It also supported President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which will be looking into the predicament, and affirmed that putting Social Security “on a sustainable footing is essential to getting the nation’s fiscal house in order”.

The Los Angeles Times “‘Ground zero mosque’ should go forward”

The L.A.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center has said that families of 9/11 victims should decide whether or not an Islamic community should be built two blocks from ground zero in Manhatten. The Anti-Defamation League has also spoken out against the centre. This may be a difficult issue for Jewish organisations committed to the memory of the Holocaust, but The Los Angeles Times did not see this stance as serving the causes of “tolerance and anti-discrimination for which both groups claim to stand”. The paper underlined the country’s commitment to “fighting bigotry of all kinds” and then noted, wryly, that the Wiesenthal Center is currently building a “deeply controversial” new Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem – located on an old Islamic burial ground.