week 8

The U.S. missteps in the Middle East continue, with CNN saying the U.S. misjudged the Israeli attack because “the Middle East no longer plays a central role in U.S. foreign policy.” A muddled Middle East policy – withdrawing from Afghanistan, distancing itself from the Saudis, scrapping the nuclear deal with Iran, and then attempting to mend fences with Iran and the Saudis – has led to Iranian support for Hamas. Also, there was complacency in thinking that the Asia-Pacific region was the main place to focus on containing China. Complicating matters is the fact that the United States, once the world’s policeman, has become less involved in foreign conflicts and more focused on its domestic priorities. Former Islamist groups still exist, and Iran and Saudi Arabia are still at odds over who will be the dominant power in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian divide and relations with other Middle Eastern countries remain uneasy. The tensions between the United States and Iran have yet to be resolved. The Middle East will be more likely not to turn out as the United States wants it to. The United States still has a lot of influence, but it’s not absolute. The situation in the Middle East has become more unstable and could explode at any moment.

The root cause of this situation is greed. It’s no exaggeration to say that the greed of the great powers for oil has made the Middle East what it is today. The situation in the Middle East is a complicated one. It’s not an easy problem to solve. This makes it difficult to see the Middle East as a simple matter of good versus evil. The power of oil money remains strong, but it has also brought conflict and strife. As long as there is so much oil in the region, it’s hard to keep comfortable in the Middle East.