There is no way around the contradictions and dangers inherent in Israel's decision to free over 1,000 prisoners in order to liberate Gilad Shalit.
Elliott AbramsItโs unlikely to change โ thereโs nothing in King Salmanโs past as governor of Riyadh for about forty years that suggests that he was particularly a reformer, not on the role of women, not on democratic development. Thereโs been a rumor in the last couple of days that he said to someone in an e-mail that heโs in favor of a constitutional monarchy, but I would be surprised if the level of repression started to go down โฆ I think the kind of thing that we would view as significant reforms is unlikely.
Elliott AbramsMoammar Gaddafi, who has called himself the 'Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,' should go down in history with the Emperor Bokassa and Idi Amin as a grotesque reminder of why people have the right to change their government.
Elliott Abrams