The United States and the Middle East: Hoist On Its Own Petard

Who’s the fucking superpower around here?” —  President Bill Clinton after his first meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996. “Don’t do stupid shit.” — President Barack Obama commenting on the U.S. military intervention in Libya in 2011. “We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia, or…

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Is It Biden’s Turn to be Boxed In?

It was known as early as 2006 that additional troops would not make a difference; that the Afghan government would collapse without U.S. support; and that the Afghan government was a criminal syndicate.  In private meetings with Obama, Biden dismissed the intelligence community’s view of the Taliban as nothing more than a “new al Qaeda.” It wrongly predicted that the Taliban would project a “global jihadist ideology.”  The fact that Biden was so right 12 years ago probably explains his stubbornness in standing up to the Pentagon, which was still arguing for a “conditions based withdrawal.”  Biden was not going to allow the Pentagon to pursue its “forever war” any longer.

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Obama and the Search for Audacity

Obama needed to pay more attention to Ronald Reagan’s dictum that “personnel is policy.” Instead of appointing serious managers of national security policy who could think outside the box—perhaps audaciously—he filled his national security team with tired veterans of Cold War thinking.

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Obama’s Memoir Offers Insights Into Major Shortcomings

With the possible exception of the memoir of President Ulysses Grant, there has never been a presidential memoir as useful or insightful as Barack Obama’s “The Promised Land.” Interestingly, he provides clues to the shortcomings of his performance that was successful in many ways but nevertheless disappointing to his devoted following.

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Recent News and Latest Book

The Atlantic Joins the Chorus of Fear

One of the lessons of the Cold War should have been the danger of exaggerating the threat or key adversaries in order to avoid the great cost of unnecessary military buildups.  We spent unnecessarily against a Soviet “threat” that was hyped beyond reality.  Politicians and pundits alike are failing to actually assess the the threat or the adversary, which is contributing to budget deficits and heightened fears.  More time should be devoted to the study of diplomatic history in order to examine precedents for improving bilateral relations.  Fear is driving us toward arms races; diplomacy could drive us to arms control and disarmament as well as a more stable international environment.

Two Wars, Five Losing Nations

The United States, complicit in Israel’s genocidal actions and sending conflicting signals regarding Ukraine and Gaza, is also losing in terms of influence and standing.  The international community understands the hypocrisy of the Biden administration that condemns the terrorism of Russia but allows the terrorism of Israel.  The United States has been Israel’s political shield on the global stage for the past 75 years.  A New York Times editorial on Monday continued to support Biden’s most recent veto of a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

whistleblower

Whistleblower at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the Politics of Intelligence