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Shaming Israel Hurts American Interests in the Middle East

(Slate) Lee Smith - The new catch phrase in the Middle East is strategic realignment. This means the balance of power is shifting from the U.S.-backed regional order to the axis of resistance. The Obama administration has blundered by jeopardizing not Israel's stature but our own regional interests and the Pax Americana that has been ours over the last 35 years. Our position in the region depends on every actor there knowing that we back Israel to the hilt and that they are dependent on us. Should any real distance open up between Washington and Jerusalem, that will send a message that the U.S.-backed order of the region is ready to be tested. And that's exactly what the axis of resistance is seeing right now. The recent U.S.-Israeli contretemps is not about progress on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. It is about Iran. The Obama administration has all but announced that it has resigned itself to an Iranian nuclear program and that it is moving toward a policy of containment and deterrence. In rattling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cage, the Obama administration was warning Israel not even to contemplate an attack on Iran. The writer is the author of The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations.
2010-03-23 08:13:23
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