BEFORE CONSIDERING the deleterious impact this descent into strategic dementia has had on US interests, it is necessary to consider the motivations of the various sides to the foreign policy debate in the US today.
All of the sides have contributed to the fact that US Middle East policy is now firmly submerged in a morass of strategic insanity.
The first side in the debate is the anti-imperialist camp, represented by President Barack Obama himself. Since taking office, Obama has made clear that he views the US as an imperialist power on the world stage. As a result, the overarching goal of Obama’s foreign policy has been to end US global hegemony.
Obama looks to the UN as a vehicle for tethering the US superpower. He views US allies in the Middle East and around the world with suspicion because he feels that as US allies, they are complicit with US imperialism.
Given his view, Obama’s instincts dictate that he do nothing to advance the US’s core interests in the Middle East. Consider his policies towards Iran. The Iranian regime threatens all of the US’s core regional interests.
And yet, Obama has refused to lift a finger against the mullahs.
Glick barely holds herself back from coating her monitor with spittle over the fact that we'd go after Libya and that we allowed Mubarak to fall in Egypt, but Obama will not bomb Iran into a parking lot, and she indicts the international community along with him for refusing to do so. She then spends another thousand plus words or so blaming Obama for Egypt and warning that the US is now led by an irrational madman who can't see that America's foreign policy aims should always match Israel's, 100%.
She stops short of saying Obama and America are now enemies of Israel, but not by much.
None of this proves that the US is now assisting an al-Qaida takeover of Libya. But it certainly indicates that the forces being assisted by the US in Libya are probably no more sympathetic to US interests than Gaddafi is. At a minimum, the data indicate the US has no compelling national interest in helping the rebels in overthrow Gaddafi.
The significance of the US’s descent into strategic irrationality bodes ill not just for US allies, but for America itself. Until the US foreign policy community is again able to recognize and work to advance the US’s core interests in the Middle East, America’s policies will threaten both its allies and itself.
Apparently our own Obama haters need some lessons, because Glick takes the medal.
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