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America's Interests in the Middle East

[Middle East Strategy at Harvard] Martin Kramer - The primary U.S. interest in the Middle East is the free flow of energy from beneath its soil to the U.S. and to our partners elsewhere. The Middle East is home to 60% of the world's oil; the U.S. has less than 2%. And within the Middle East, the epicenter of our interest is the Persian Gulf. What we face now is an Iran that's determined to erode our position in the Gulf, so that we'll disappear, just as Britain did before us. If Iran does acquire nuclear weapons, the Gulf waters will become almost impossible to chart, the oil states (and Israel) will be unnerved, and our primary interest will be at risk. How much attention should be devoted to Israel and the Palestinians? Once upon a time, it was thought that Israel versus Arabs was the source of all instability in the Middle East. For the last 35 years there have been no state-to-state wars involving Israel. Fostering an Israeli-Palestinian deal would be a good deed, but its contribution to our overall interests would be marginal. My advice for the next president: Show interest, but don't waste time. The writer, former director of Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, is Olin Institute Senior Fellow at Harvard University, the Wexler-Fromer Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Adelson Institute Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
2008-10-08 01:00:00
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