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Source: http://www.meforum.org/3673/syria-policy-failure
The Failure of U.S. Policy toward Damascus
(Middle East Quarterly) Eyal Zisser - What Arabs resent most is not the U.S. invasion of Iraq or even support for Israel: The Arabs are most angry at the U.S. because it is the most convenient "other." To the Arabs, Washington's international success and status is a constant reminder of Arab decline from its glorious past. The U.S. is seen as the successor to Britain and other colonial powers and, therefore, shall be an enemy forever. As long as the only explanation offered for the decline remains a U.S.-Zionist conspiracy, rejection of good-faith efforts by the West will remain as it is. Curiously, the dream of the average Arab individual is to immigrate to the States or experience the American way of life. If the world's leading superpower does not believe in its power and looks regularly for excuses not to exercise it, it is bound to be perceived as a paper tiger. If George W. Bush was not liked in the region, he was at least feared. Barack Obama is neither liked nor feared. The writer is dean of the faculty of humanities and professor of contemporary Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University.