Cause for concern: Has Washington lost it?
A group of Israelis went to New York for a high level conclave at the end of March and was shocked to find that the United States is tired of our region. Worse still, from an Israeli perspective, the United States has no clue as to what it is doing in our region and why. Simply put, Washington’s behavior makes no strategic sense. First, it stabbed its ally Hosni Mubarak in the back; then it sought to block Saudi intervention in Bahrain, which was necessary to forestall an Iranian-backed Shiite victory; and now it has intervened in a civil and tribal war in which the rebels might well be radical Islamists or subsumed by Islamists.Read the whole thing. Here's the problem: I see little or no chance of the US snapping back before January 2013. And even then, it will depend on the results of the 2012 elections.
All this reinforces the Israeli view that Washington has lost it. A mix of strategic weariness and naïve ideology supporting a half-baked doctrine of sporadic intervention for humanitarian reasons is a recipe for growing uncertainty about American wisdom and leadership. Many Middle Eastern states will distance themselves from an unreliable U.S., especially if its leaders appear to be misguided amateurs.
A confused and unpredictable America is even more frightening than a tired superpower. A Middle East without clear and strong American leadership is a very unruly place, especially for Israel.
Israelis still see America as a great and ennobling world power. America is not and need not be in decline. Thus we hope that the U.S. will snap back to its solid global performance and responsibilities quickly. The world — especially the Middle East — needs a strong America with strategic prescience.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bahrain, Egyptian regime change, Libyan no-fly zone, US foreign policy
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:04 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Carl.
I don't think that the US has lost it as you put it.
The problem is Israel and Israel's allies have an ennemy in the White house .Time to stop the hypocricy and state things as they are.
Carl:
This is one that is just not about Obama, it's about America. For the last 30 years we have "invested" blood and treasure into this area (from Lebanon in the 80's to Bosnia/Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. We've done this without any overall strategy, or long-term view.
Our return on this effort has been more hatred of America by Europeans, Arabs, Muslims and others. More importantly, because what we are doing seems to make no sense, no one can predict how we will react to events.
Those that wish American harm are emboldened and our allies are looking for more trustworthy friends. None of this bodes well for the US.
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