re: #79 Bob Levin

Unfortunately, that strategy also has some flaws. First, let’s call the hateful assholes ‘tyrants’. Tyrants are usually very protective (to the point of paranoia) of their power. Those closest to the tyrants are usually in the greatest physical jeopardy. Even a hint of betraying the tyrant, by negotiating with another nation, is met with immediate execution.

Now this doesn’t leave a great deal of options on the table. And that’s the problem.

However, the claim that Arafat did not rule the PLO with an iron fist, I believe, is ridiculous. We know this because he never relinquished power, there was never any hint of power struggles, and he managed to steal billions of foreign aid without the slightest objection from anyone in the world.

Moreover, the USSR was giving Arafat the kind of firepower that supported the warlord image he had of himself. He clung to that image at the cost of peace, more than once.