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U.S. Rethinks Tactics for Middle East

(The Australian) Ehud Yaari - President Obama's foreign policy team have reached the conclusion that picking unnecessary fights with Israel was not going to advance the peace process. They are not getting anything in return from the Arab world. There has also been a change of heart in Washington concerning Iran. I have solid information that the top echelons of the administration have concluded that the U.S. cannot adopt the option of containing a nuclear Iran. There is an understanding that in no way can Iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. How do we know this? Among other things, because this is what the Americans have been telling Arab leaders over recent weeks. I believe Obama and some of the people around him are reaching the conclusion that a policy based on engagement doesn't really work. They got a "no" for an answer from the Syrians, they repeatedly get a "no" from the Iranians, and they get slapped back all over the place. They are saying to themselves, "That's about as much as we are prepared to take." The writer is Lafer International Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Middle East commentator for Channel 2 news in Israel.
2010-07-21 08:49:53
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