Daily Alert Archives

U.S. Strategy in the Middle East

(Sandbox) Martin Kramer - The Middle East is not a region of overriding U.S. interest. The U.S. was prepared to expend much blood and treasure to put Europe and the Pacific rim on the track to peace and stability. It has never accorded the Middle East the same worth, and the usual approach has been to try to preserve U.S. interests in the region on the cheap. The U.S. has four core interests in the Middle East: the free flow of oil, the security of Israel, countering terrorism, and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction - weapons that would allow Middle Eastern pathologies to spill over and endanger the world. On occasion, some have tried to add the promotion of human rights or democracy to this short list of interests. When that has happened, it's lasted for a few years and then dropped off. At no point has the U.S. believed that upholding core U.S. interests requires the exclusion of other powers. Europe, Russia, and China dish out aid, do business, sell arms, and support clients. The U.S. tolerates their presence, because its own presence is so dominant, and because considerable parts of the Middle East aren't worth the costs of competing. Americans want to go back to the good old days, when a few clever people in pinstripe suits and a few well-placed intel assets could keep the Middle East on the back burner where it belongs. The writer is President of Shalem College in Jerusalem.
2013-12-11 00:00:00
Full Article