Obama In Israel: The Presidential Tourist -- Dana Milbank, Washington Post
In Israel this week, President Obama was quite the kibitzer.
He kibitzed — Yiddish for offering unsolicited chatter, jokes or advice — about the stripes on the tarmac at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. He kibitzed about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s family and about being a lefty. He kibitzed about the weather and gardening. He kibitzed about the health of Israeli President Shimon Peres, a mechanical snake, a chandelier and the relative troubles presented by Congress and the Knesset.
He even kibitzed on a visit to Yitzhak Rabin’s grave Friday, as overheard by reporters in the White House press pool: “Bibi arranged for perfect weather . . . Shimon plied me with wine . . . [Rabin] had a great speaking voice. . . . I can sing. They had me sing on YouTube.”
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Nice Speech, Mr. President: Obama said all the right things in Jerusalem. Now what? -- Daniel Levy, Foreign Policy
Analysis: Obama scores unexpected successes on Middle East trip -- Crispian Balmer, Reuters
Inaction on Syria can be damaging for US -- Gulf News
Is It Too Late to Save Syria? -- Seth Mandel, Commentary
Turkish Kurds take big step toward ending insurgency -- Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers
Cyprus, Russia - and Syria -- Michael Weiss, Real Clear World
For Sri Lanka, More Empty Words -- Samanth Subranian, New York Times
How China Helps the Pivot -- Robert Keatley, National Interest
Cypriot Financial Sector Faces Collapse -- Stefan Kaiser, Spiegel Online
Cyprus is breaking the mould. Its entire political class – facing revolt – has mutinied -- Kevin Myers, Independent.ie
The Cyprus crisis reveals much about German-Russian relations -- Stefan Meister, The Guardian
The euro-zone crisis: Just when you thought it was safe… -- The Economist
U.N. hypocrisy in Haiti -- Charanya Krishnaswami and Muneer I. Ahmad, Washington Post
The Long Shadow: Venezuela’s upcoming election features a young challenger against Hugo Chávez’s appointed successor -- who’s doing everything in his power to make the race about his dead boss. -- Peter Wilson, Foreign Policy