A History of Meddling (F. Gregory Gause & Shadi Hamid)

[Bloggingheads]

[Stapler Malone]

scholarly skepticism on the GCC, eloquently articulated.

[harkin]

One must admit that Obama's speech was ambitious, the fact that he's spending so much time walking it back though just shows how out of his depth he was in making it.

He should have stuck to the form of his speech in the UK, where he basically said nothing.

While Congress was applauding Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Obama was showing us what leadership isn't. On a visit intended more to advance his re-election campaign than the interests of the United States, Mr. Obama played Ping-Pong with British Prime Minister David Cameron, signed the wrong date in the distinguished visitors' log at Westminster Abbey and botched a toast to the Queen.

[ohreally]

So the US should say sorry for getting it "wrong" all these years? Is Hamid being naive or supremely cynical? Does he believe that US mideast policy has been just one giant "mistake" in the last 40 years? I'm afraid that, as long as he clings to that view, the likes of Gause will always have the better of the argument. The word mistake implies that the means were incorrectly chosen to reach the ends. But there's no evidence of that. The ends have always included control of the oil fields/lanes and the protection of Israel. The means have been, by and large, suited to the task.

For meaningful changes in US policy, first change the ends. Admit that the US has no legitimate claim on its self-arrogated hegemony over the Gulf region. Then admit that the US has no business supporting apartheid in the territories. Once you've done that, then you can change policy. But until that's done, US-sponsored democracy promotion is nothing but one hot pile of steaming bullshit.