Obama and the Middle East peace
Obama’s Nobel peace prize and his diplomacy efforts, plus Pakistan’s security situation.
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Sir David talks to Bertie Ahern, the former Irish prime minister, who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, Vuk Jeremic, the foreign minister of Serbia, about the imminent trial of Radovan Karadzic, and to General Ehsan ul Haq, the former chairman of Pakistan’s joint chiefs of staff committee, about the country’s current security situation.
He also speaks to Jeffrey Archer, an author and former politician, about the re-crafted version of his 1979 bestseller Kane and Abel, and to Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, about the Middle East peace process.
This episode of Frost over the World aired from Friday, October 16, 2009.
| Bertie Ahern |
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For just over a decade Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach of Ireland, the second longest serving prime minister in the country’s history. Bertie became one of the key players to bring peace to the troubled North, helping to negotiate the historic Good Friday Agreement. He also oversaw Ireland’s economic revival and the emergence of the so-called Celtic Tiger. But the man once called the “Teflon Taoiseach” has become unstuck, being forced to resign amid ongoing questions about his personal finances last year. He has written all about it in his autobiography. |
| Dore Gold and Manuel Hassassian |
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Could the award of the Nobel peace prize to Barack Obama, the US president, be premature, particularly with regard to his impact on the Middle East peace process? Sir David is joined by Dore Gold, a man who has been central to Israeli-Palestinian talks over the years: as a close adviser to Binyamin Netanyahu and Israeli ambassador to the UN, he frequently dealt with Yasser Arafat face to face. For the Palestinian side, Sir David is joined by Manuel Hassassian, the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s ambassador in the UK. |
| Jeffrey Archer |
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Not many writers have the chance to re-write a work and give a new generation of readers an up to date version of a classic or a bestseller. Jeffrey Archer, an author and former politician, has revised his 1979 best-selling work Kane and Abel. The result: seven months of writing, old words replaced by new ones, and a work described by another best-selling author Dan Brown as the “ultimate tale of sibling rivalry”. He joins Sir David to talk about the re-crafted version of Kane and Abel. |
| General Ehsan ul Haq and Vuk Jeremic |
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Sir David is joined by General Ehsan ul Haq, the former chairman joint chiefs of staff of the Pakistan army and the former head of ISI, the country’s intelligence service. They discuss the country’s security situation as Pakistan has said it will continue its battle against militants in the country, while recent attacks have killed dozens in the army and security forces. Sir David also talks to Vuk Jeremic, Serbia’s foreign minister, about the upcoming trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Karadzic claims to be innocent of all charges, but 14 years after the end of hostilities in Bosnia, what do the Serbian people think of the Hague tribunal process? |