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A Chance for the U.S. to Rebuild an Alliance Crucial to Its Security
(Wall Street Journal) Walter Russell Mead - The war in Ukraine hurts Russia in the Middle East and helps the U.S. because Putin's failure to crush Ukraine makes him look like a loser, and weakness is the one unforgivable sin in Middle East politics. Every day that Russia fails to make significant progress, and every day that the Western response to Russian aggression grows more robust, Putin looks weaker and America looks stronger. The U.S.-Israel relationship is one of the most intimate and effective partnerships in the world. The integration of Israeli and American defense and tech industries contributes substantially to the security and the prosperity of both countries, and widespread public support for Israel among American voters helps inoculate American foreign policy against isolationism. The Biden administration's reluctance, so far, to accept maximalist Iranian demands as the price for reinstituting the nuclear deal leaves many Israelis hoping for a more robust American policy in the region. The example of Ukraine's Jewish president electrifies many Israelis. And as Putin seeks to rally Russian nationalism behind him in his struggle with the West, his henchmen are revisiting anti-Semitic tropes that resonate in Russian nationalist circles but remind Jews about the deep roots of anti-Semitism in Russian history and culture. The creation of a Middle East alliance network including both Arabs and Israelis that preserved vital American interests at limited cost was one of the great American achievements of the Cold War. The question is whether the administration can construct a realistic framework for renewed American primacy in the Middle East. The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College.