The Artlessness Of the Deal

Let's play historical make-believe for a moment.  Suppose that Great Britain, officially a Protestant nation as the reigning monarch is the head of the Church of England, wanted to improve relations with the great Catholic powers of Europe in the late 1860s.  The British and the French had defeated Russia in the Crimean War but were still wary of Russian expansion.  The newly united Italy, along with France, Spain, and Austria-Hungary, have long resisted peace deals with Great Britain because of its domination of heavily Catholic Ireland, and they've set an Irish state as a condition of deals with the British. But, let's suppose, let's say that Napoleon III, the Emperor Of the French, and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Joseph, are particularly worried about the growing threat from Russia and rush to make a deal for a treaty of amity and commerce with the British, and  the prime minister of Great Britain hails it as a major breakthrough between his country and the Catholic heads of state on the Continent.  And the cause for Irish autonomy is left behind.

Well, except for the names and a few other changes - to paraphrase Neil Diamond's reference to the story of the frog who dreamed of being, and then became, a king - if you talk about what happened this week with the Middle East, the story is the same.   Israel achieved a joint peace deal with the Arab states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates because pf a common fear of Iran, and the Palestinians - still living under Israeli domination - have been left with nothing. A peace deal with the Palestinians was a condition from the Arab states for normalizing relations with Israel, but now they're ready to leave the Palestinians behind over some geopolitical paranoia.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails it as a major breakthrough, and the monarchs of the two Arab countries are quie pleased.  And someone's going to make money off this.

Here is a picture of the signing of the Israeli-Bahraini-Emirati peace deal at the White House, which allegedly brokered the deal.

Second from right is the frog who would be king. :-p