The Propagandist's allies fight on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets, in the hills and in the parking lots, outside the bar and inside the bar, in the comments sections of the Guardian and the letters to the editor section of the New York Times, from the North Pole to the dark side of the moon, they shall never surrender.

A roundup of our Allies' excellent political propaganda from the front lines:

• Green Is The Colour. The Anti-Taliban movement in Afghanistan gets some belated recognition.
• The Appeasers of Ratko Mladic. The infamous general will not be the only one judged.
• ‘Baby Farm’ Girls and the Sale of Children in Nigeria. It doesn't get much worse than this.
• Russia’s World War II Experience Needs To Be Better Understood. The war in Europe was won with British brains, American brawn, and Russian blood.  A lot of Russian blood.
• Undeserving Case For A Palestinian State. Tibet, on the other hand...
• Contempt. Canada needs an Arab Spring? Uh, thanks, but no thanks.

Confusion to our enemies!

About four years ago I happened to be sitting in a threadbare pub in a northern English mill town on a dank winter evening when two middle-aged, middle class couples sat down at the next table. One of the women was evidently a teacher at the local high school and she was describing to her friends a wedding which she had recently attended. The bride was one of her pupils – a young woman whom she repeatedly described as “my little Palestinian girl”.  

Enthusiastic and detailed descriptions of exotic dress, food and ceremony were eventually interrupted by the other woman in the party who somewhat hesitantly expressed discomfort with the fact that such a young girl had taken part in what was, according to the raconteuse, an arranged marriage. Flicking the ends of her fuchsia pink and silver tasselled ethnic-style scarf impatiently, the teacher silenced her friend with the standard debate-killing, politically-correct slogan of last resort employed so often by those afflicted by normative relativism: “But that’s part of their culture!”

Earlier this month twenty-six Europeans of note, including Javier Solana, Mary Robinson, Helmut Schmidt and other former heads of state and dignitaries, sent a letter to European Union capitals and institutions demanding, amongst other things, that EU Foreign Ministers state as doctrine that the EU "Will not recognize any changes to the June 1967 boundaries, and clarify that a Palestinian state should be in sovereign control over territory equivalent to 100 percent of the territory occupied in 1967, including its capital in East Jerusalem." The letter also specifies a time limit:

“It also asks ministers to set an ultimatum of April 2011 for Israel to fall into line or see the Union seek an end to the existing US-led peace talks in favour of a UN solution.”

Days later, European Union Foreign Ministers expressed their "readiness, when appropriate, to recognize a Palestinian state"; a move which was swiftly followed by a request from leaders of the Palestinian National Authority for a number of individual countries within the EU, as well as the EU envoy to the peace process, to join Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the Arab world and some African nations in recognizing a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood without a peace agreement.  

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The USA once more brokers peace talks in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians. After decades of negotiations, everyone knows the issues. The bargaining chips -- recognition of the Jewish state, right of return, prisoners, compensation, territory, settlements, demilitarization -- even for those of us half a world away from the action, are all plain to see on this high-stakes poker table.

When I traveled to Israel and through the West Bank this year, I got first-hand confirmation from both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians that the polls I keep hearing about are accurate: people from both sides want the peace and security that could come with a two-state solution. They want a chance for a life where conflict is not always the ugly elephant in the room. Read more