The near endless failures of peace-making in the Middle East are due to our not thinking like the locals.

Imagine being in an intense negotiation with a Chinese firm. Let’s go way back to the days before Google Translate and imagine that the CCP jailed your translator overnight. The two sides sit at a table but cannot understand each other. They try to use pictures or sign language to get their points across, but to no avail. Nothing progresses because neither side understands the other.

Donald Trump has many firsts in his two presidencies. He moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something that his predecessors promised but never did. He has more recently cleaned up Washington fountains and parks. He said that his father told him that if the entrance to a restaurant is dirty, then the establishment itself is no better. America’s capital, especially during this 250th year of celebrations, should look like the seat of power of the greatest country in the world. Donald Trump has negotiated trade agreements favorable to U.S. coffers and companies. The man literally wrote the book on negotiations. With all of the above in mind and plenty of previous articles praising the president and his associates, I need to write the words below.

Many people have concluded that the modern expression of Islam is incompatible with Western life. The recent destruction in Paris at the hands of immigrants primarily from Islamic countries is only one of the endless cases of Islam in the West bringing death, mayhem, and threats to the end of the Western way of life. Western-trained people and Muslims often do not think the same way. Let’s use an example.

Imagine Coca-Cola and Pepsi negotiating a joint venture. Even if the discussions become tense and acrimonious, nobody would expect Pepsi to burn down a Coke bottling plant or for Coke to assassinate Pepsi’s CEO. There might be lawsuits or some industrial espionage to get a leg up on the........

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