De Borchgrave: Obama Faces Disintegrating Situation in Middle East, Mexico
It’s an increasingly dangerous world, award-winning journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave tells Newsmax, and the Obama administration is ill prepared for the challenges it faces with an Iran bent on building a nuclear bomb, and an emerging narco-state in Mexico.
By: Jim Meyers at Newsmax.com
Award-winning journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave tells Newsmax that he will not see a Palestinian state in his lifetime — and the ultimate solution will likely be a single nation shared by both Israelis and Palestinians.
In his exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, de Borchgrave also says he seriously doubts that new sanctions will deter Iran from continuing its nuclear program, warns that a single incident in the Middle East could push oil prices to as much as $400 a barrel, and asserts that Mexico is already to a great extent a “narco republic.”
Editor’s Note: See the entire Newsmax.TV interview with Arnaud de Borchgrave below.
De Borchgrave was with Newsweek magazine for 30 years, 25 of them as chief foreign correspondent covering most of the world’s major news events. He is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor at large at United Press International and The Washington Times, and a Newsmax correspondent.
Asked about reports that the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Germany and China have agreed to draw up new sanctions against Iran in response to its nuclear weapons program, de Borchgrave says the sanctions will determined by “the lowest common denominator among all those powers.
“China has some long-term arrangements with Iran, oil deliveries going over 10 years. Russia now after the latest terrorist incident in Moscow may be a little more amenable than it was. There will be sanctions. Whether they will bring Iran to a different viewpoint on their nuclear ambitions, I doubt it very seriously. They’ve been at it for 25 years.”
Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian question, de Borchgrave — who received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Phillips Foundation in 2007 — tells Newsmax: “I’ve long argued that you’re not going to see a Palestinian state in my lifetime.
“You don’t have the makings of a Palestinian state. The West Bank today has about 150 Israeli settlements with a total population of 300,000. East Jerusalem has 200,000 Israeli citizens living there, making a Palestinian capital impossible.
“So where would this Palestinian state be? Certainly not in the West Bank. There’s no other place to put them. So one day, in my view, we’re moving willy-nilly toward a one-state solution, which would be very much like Lebanon, with both Jews and Arabs.
“Most Israelis can’t conceive of that in the next 10 years, but 15, 20 years from now, with a new generation or two new generations, it may well happen.”
The Palestinians, meanwhile, are moving toward a “new Intifada,” de Borchgrave says.
He doubts that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew in advance that an announcement would be made, during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, that Israel would build 1,600 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem.
“He has some right-wing members of his cabinet who did that to embarrass him. He was taken by surprise on the timing.”
In light of the escalating violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, which has claimed American lives, de Borchgrave was asked if Mexico is in danger of becoming a narco republic.
“I think to a great extent Mexico is already like Colombia was, a narco republic,” he declares. “It’s a major crisis for the United States, no question in my mind.
“We’ve been so busy with Iraq and Afghanistan that we don’t see what is happening on our own border. That’s why I think the next presidential election will be on a platform that will ask the United States to come home, rebuild our country, before China eats our lunch. There’s so much unfinished business in America.”
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