As you can see, I thought the speech that Obama gave in Cairo (which is in Africa by the way, not the Middle East) was excellent. President Obama clearly realizes that in order to create something new, in order to transform a situation, you have to start from a place of nothing-ness. It is impossible to create from a space where where there are pre-existing feelings, thoughts, misconceptions and judgements. Try and build a house on a foundation like that and you can be guaranteed that it will crumble quickly.

The point of this speech was, as I said in the CNN interview, to wipe the slate clean and start again. He took everything that has happened previously and put it in the past where it belongs. He then set out some possibilities for the future. That’s step number one – the most vital step – in solving ANY conflict. 

Step 2 will, of course, be taking action. I’m looking forward to that but for now I think this is a very good start. Hopefully when the action is being taken – and for it to work – it will be from the position of possibility that the President has laid out and that those he has to work with agree with.