OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Each week we recognize those people and organizations in the
community deserving of public praise for the good things they do
to make the North Coast a better place to live, and also those who
should be called out for their actions.
SHOUTOUTS
• The Astoria girls track team, which won its third consec-
utive 4A state championship last weekend in Eugene. The Lady
Fishermen were dominate with junior Darian Hageman win-
ning the triple jump and the high jump and finishing second in
the long jump and sixth in the pole vault, scoring 31 of the team’s
57 points. Gracie Cummings, Andrea Harris, Nara Van De
Grift and Natalie Cummings teamed to win the 400 meter relay.
Natalie Cummings also finished second in the 100 meters and
third in the 200, and her sister Gracie finished eighth in both
the 100 and 200-meter races. On the boys side, Astoria’s Lucas
Caruana finished second in the 1,500 meters and Tim Barnett
placed third in the shot put.
Seaside’s Jackson Januik
repeated as champion in
the 800 meters, Bradley
Rzewnicki took third in
the 3,000, Juneau Meyer
finished fourth in the 400
and Phoenix Johnson
was fifth place in the high
jump. On the girls side,
Gretchen Hoekstre fin-
ished second in the shot
put and third in the discus.
In Class 3A, Warrenton’s
Tyler Whitaker was fifth
in the long jump, ninth in
the high jump and 10th in
David Ball/For The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Darian Hageman flies into the triple jump. Teammates
the pit during her winning effort in Devin Bowser was eighth
the triple jump on Saturday, pushing
the Lady Fishermen to the top of the in the discus and Mark
Warren was eighth in the
team leaderboard late in the meet.
javelin. At the 2A level,
Knappa’s Devin Vandergriff scored sixth in the 400 meters. In
1A action, Jewell junior Gabi Morales placed fourth in the 300
hurdles; Lily Kaczenski tied for eighth in the pole vault and
senior Sean Hinson was eighth in the discus.
• The Cannon Beach Tourism and Arts Commission and
the Tolovana Arts Colony, which presented last weekend’s sixth
annual “Get Lit at the Beach” festival in Cannon Beach. The
three-day literary festival featured authors, a reception, readings, a
Saturday night banquet and a Sunday panel discussion with audi-
ence questions and answers. The banquet’s keynote speaker was
author Karl Marlantes, a highly decorated Marine who served in
Vietnam and later wrote “Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam
War,” his debut, which was a New York Times and USA Today
bestseller.
• Long Beach, Washington, Elementary School students
who helped raise $4,164 for the Portland Shriners Hospital for
Children, about double of what was raised last year. The money
mostly came from business donations, but the students led the ini-
tiative. It was the second year for the fundraiser, which was initi-
ated by Long Beach Elementary teacher Pat Knapp. The money
raised this year will go toward devices that will help children with
scoliosis and for gift cards to help families at the hospital. Fourth-
grade student Hailey Hightower was recognized during a student
assembly for raising the most, $745.
• Knappa High School girls softball catcher Kaitlyn Truax,
who was named the Northwest League’s Most Valuable Player
earlier this week. Truax, a junior, batted .679 this season. Knappa
landed seven players on the all-league squad. In addition to Truax,
pitcher Madelynn Weaver was the only freshman on the first team.
CALLOUTS
• The Oregon Health Authority, which according to the
Secretary of State’s Office may have spent millions of dollars pro-
viding Medicaid coverage for 86,000 people whose qualifications
for the program are still in question. About a quarter of the state’s
population, about 1 million people, are receiving Medicaid ben-
efits which were expanded in 2014 under the federal Affordable
Care Act. At the time, the state didn’t have a system in place to
perform annual checks on recipient eligibility required by federal
law and has been scrambling since then to finish verifying every
Oregonian on Medicaid — the Oregon Health Plan — meets the
criteria. The health authority says the process is about 90 percent
complete, and the governor has given the health authority an Aug.
31 deadline to finish double-checking recipient eligibility.
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know
about? Let us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make
sure to take a look.
Why Middle East peace
starts in Saudi Arabia
“Whom the gods would destroy,
they first tempt to resolve the Arab-Is-
raeli conflict.”
— Irving Kristol
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writer’s Group
W
ASHINGTON — The
quixotic American
pursuit of Middle East
peace is a perennial. It invariably
fails, yet every
administration feels
compelled to give
it a try. The Trump
administration is no
different.
It will fail as
well. To be sure, no great harm
has, as yet, come from President
Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for what
would be “the ultimate deal.” It will,
however, distract and detract from
remarkable progress being made
elsewhere in the Middle East.
That progress began with Trump’s
trip to Saudi Arabia, the first of his
presidency — an unmistakable dec-
laration of a radical reorientation of
U.S. policy in the region. Message:
The appeasement of Iran is over.
Barack Obama’s tilt toward
Iran in the great Muslim civil war
between Shiite Iran and Sunni Arabs
led by Saudi Arabia was his reach
for Nixon-to-China glory. It ended
ignominiously.
The idea that the nuclear deal
would make Iran more moderate
has proved spectacularly wrong, as
demonstrated by its defiant ballistic
missile launches, its indispensable
support for the genocidal Assad
regime in Syria, its backing of the
Houthi insurgency in Yemen, its
worldwide support for terrorism,
its relentless anti-Americanism and
commitment to the annihilation of
Israel.
These aggressions were sup-
posed to abate. They didn’t. On the
contrary, the cash payments and the
lifting of economic sanctions —
Tehran’s reward for the nuclear deal
— have only given its geopolitical
thrusts more power and reach.
The reversal has now begun.
The first act was Trump’s Riyadh
address to about 50 Muslim states
(the overwhelming majority of them
Sunni) signaling a wide Islamic
alliance committed to resisting Iran
and willing to cast its lot with the
American side.
That was objective No. 1. The
other was to turn the Sunni powers
against Sunni terrorism. The Islamic
State is Sunni. Al-Qaeda is Sunni.
Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were
Saudi. And the spread of Saudi-
funded madrassas around the world
has for decades inculcated a poi-
Saudi Press Agency via AP
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, Saudi King Salman, U.S. First
Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump visit a new Global Cen-
ter for Combating Extremist Ideology Sunday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
sonous Wahhabism that has fueled
Islamist terrorism.
Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf
states publicly declaring war on their
bastard terrorist child is significant.
As is their pledge not to tolerate any
semiofficial support or private dona-
tions. And their opening during the
summit of an anti-terrorism center in
Riyadh.
After eight years of U.S. policy
hovering between neglect and
betrayal, the Sunni Arabs are relieved
to have America back. A salutary
side effect is the possibility of a
detente with Israel.
After eight
years of U.S.
policy hovering
between
neglect and
betrayal, the
Sunni Arabs are
relieved to have
America back.
That would suggest an outside-in
approach to Arab-Israeli peace: a
rapprochement between the Sunni
state and Israel (the outside) would
put pressure on the Palestinians to
come to terms (the inside). It’s a
long-shot strategy but it’s better than
all the others. Unfortunately, Trump
muddied the waters a bit in Israel
by at times reverting to the opposite
strategy — the inside-out — by
saying that an Israeli-Palestinian deal
would “begin a process of peace all
throughout the Middle East.”
That is well-worn nonsense.
Imagine if Israel disappeared tomor-
row in an earthquake. Does that end
the civil war in Syria? The instability
in Iraq? The fighting in Yemen? Does
it change anything of consequence
amid the intra-Arab chaos? Of course
not.
And apart from being delusional,
the inside-out strategy is at present
impossible. Palestinian leadership is
both hopelessly weak and irredeem-
ably rejectionist. Until it is prepared
to accept the legitimacy of the Jewish
state — which it has never done
in the 100 years since the Balfour
Declaration committed Britain to
a Jewish homeland in Palestine —
there will be no peace.
It may come one day. But not
now. Which is why making the
Israel-Palestinian issue central, rather
than peripheral, to the epic Sunni-
Shiite war shaking the Middle East
today is a serious tactical mistake. It
subjects any now-possible reconcil-
iation between Israel and the Arab
states to a Palestinian veto.
Ironically, the Iranian threat
that grew under Obama offers a
unique opportunity for U.S.-Arab
and even Israeli-Arab cooperation.
Over time, such cooperation could
gradually acclimate Arab peoples
to a nonbelligerent stance toward
Israel. Which might in turn help
persuade the Palestinians to make
some concessions before their fellow
Arabs finally tire of the Palestinians’
century of rejectionism.
Perhaps that will require a peace
process of sorts. No great harm, as
long as we remember that any such
Israeli-Palestinian talks are for show
— until conditions are one day ripe
for peace.
In the meantime, the real action
is on the anti-Iranian and anti-terror
fronts. Don’t let Oslo-like mirages
get in the way.
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-
0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District
office: 12725 SW Millikan Way,
Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005.
Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326-
5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
Hart Senate Office Building, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E.,
H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@
state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D):
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.deborah boone@state.
or.us District office: P.O. Box 928,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone:
503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john-
son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy-
johnson.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone:
503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296.
Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.
• Port of Astoria: Executive
Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto-
ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300.
Email: admin@portofastoria.com
• Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners: c/o County Manager, 800
Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR
97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.