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Daybreak: Obama Presses on Blockade, Talks

Plus remembering Tyrone Johns, and more

by
Marc Tracy
June 10, 2010
Presidents Abbas and Obama yesterday.(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Presidents Abbas and Obama yesterday.(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

• Meeting with Palestinian President Abbas, President Obama announced additional U.S. aid to Gaza and called on Israel to loosen its blockade. [NYT]

• Obama also urged Abbas to move from the current “proximity talks” to direct talks with Israel. [Politico]

• Israel actually did loosen the blockade somewhat, but not in majorly substantive ways (not that apple juice and coriander aren’t tasty). [LAT]

• Jackson Diehl argues that yesterday’s U.N. sanctions arguably redound to Iran’s benefit, because they strengthen the leadership and are largely toothless, not touching, for example, its energy sector. [PostPartisan]

• A profile of the Turkish organization behind the flotilla finds a symptom of the rise of Turkey’s non-secular middle class—as well as, some say, an al Qaeda connection. [WP]

• Finally, today is the one-year anniversary of the murder of Tyrone Johns, the special police officer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Washington, D.C., museum will open a half-hour late for a private service, and its flags will fly at half-mast. [U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.