In order to curb escalating conflicts between the Hamas and Israel, diplomats have scrambled to get in contact with stakeholders on each side of the conflict and hopefully prevent another major conflict in the Middle East to erupt. Notable among these politicians are Außenminister Guido Westerwelle and Kanzlerin Angela Merkel of Germany. On the 15th he spoke with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, as well as the Egyptian Außenminister Amr, among others. He did not, however, approach solely from Israel’s side but rather spoke with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas as well. Yesterday (November 1
9th) he flew to the region to help deescalate the conflict personally. Meanwhile Angela Merkel spoke with Netanjahu and the Egyptian president Mursi. Both Germans contacted prominent Egyptians because of Egypt’s position as a regional power with considerable soft power over its fellow Islamic nations. Palestinians aligned with the Hamas would probably be more open to words of reason coming from a friend than the demands of westerners. This news sticks out to me because it depicts a rather recent trend in world politics. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the United States emerged as the far and away the world’s preeminent superpower. People call a situation like this Unipolarity- one country exercising most of the world’s economic, cultural and military influence. While the US still has this position in a way, many other nations have finally recovered from the second world war, or the cold war, or have for the first time in recent history expanded their influence on the global stage. Just as the Roman/Byzantine Empire or the British Empire had their hands in affairs all around the world, Americans have been the world police in recently. This is simply because under such circumstances, unipolar powers cannot afford to ignore crises outside of their borders. Because we have a stake in so many places, most crises that affect countries outside our borders will ultimately affect us. Germany has become an even more key world player as the leader of the EU and one of the world’s largest economies. As more countries let their economic roots become entangled throughout the world, I think maintaining peace.
-Dane
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