Here are two views of the Nakba observances, demonstrations at the borders of Israel. Are we witnessing a paradigm shift, that storied notion of the great philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, transposed into political terms in the ‘Middle East’? Are the old centers of political leadership teetering on the edge? Will the new social media eclipse all old style leadership models, organizations and lead too semi-autonomous democratic self- generating political change i.e. a leaderless model based upon an immediately shared and agreed upon political consensus via electronic devices? Will the vanguard be made up of thousands, whose opinions and actions resonate with entire populations emboldened by The Arab Spring: weary of a sclerotic leadership that has not delivered on the same tired old promises? The question of why thousands assembled at the borders of Israel might be a question that some in the American Foreign Policy Establishment would shy away from, but Mr. Beinart is not one of them.
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