Bacevich on the Middle East

++Today, President Obama continues his meetings with the Saudi Princes and the Gulf States about Syria,the Iran nuclear deal and Yemen. If you read the Israeli press, this meeting is all about Iran and the Sunni Arab efforts to kill the nuclear deal. It's not.
Bibi is upset that President Obama will not meet with him until after the Iranian nuclear deal is done.

++But Andrew Bacevich, one of my favorite writers on military affairs,has an op-ed in the LA Times about the changing dynamic of American relations with the Middle East.

++Bacevich's main point is that the circumstances that first inspired our Middle East policy are no longer valid. Our way of life no longer depends on US access to Persian Gulf War.

++The Iran nuclear deal has little to do with nuclear weapons than it does with ending Iran's isolation and thereby it becomes a serious regional player. 

++Bacevich says that American policy is obviously not working in the region and it has not stabilized the region. He scoffs at any raison d'être about democracy and human rights. Just look at the place.

++ He feels that Saudi Arabia and Israel will have to accommodate themselves to the United States or find another donor or patron. While he sees our commitment to Israel as unshakeable,he believes we no longer have to tolerate Israeli policies that annoy us like the expansion of the settlements and the avoidance of dealing with the Palestinian issue. 

++Bacevich says that while President Obama has annoyed two of key allies in the region,he is trying to put the relationships more on a business-like footing.

++Previously, I complained that President obama's policy had too many moving parts and these parts are fragmenting. But the imperial dreams of the neo-conservatives have blown away in the sand. There is no need for Dick Cheney's Energy Empire or viability for that matter. George W's belief that once democracy was established it would take hold in the other countries in the region has been nullified. The idea that we can overcompensate for our policy failures through the threat or use of military force is obviously no longer true.

++Yet we have the contenders for the GOP nomination still whistling these tunes, oblivious to the facts on the ground. But the fact that no Republican is defending Jeb Bush as he stumbles around for the last four days talking about the Iraq war shows you they have nothing to propose.

++There was a loveliest when Elton John testified in the Senate on the need for American foreign aid spending. Lindsey Graham assured Sir Elton that the Republicans would preserve foreign aid. The minute he left, they voted to cut it even more.

++Meanwhile, China has been rolling up the various aid packages spanning the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. 

++One is still left with the yawning gap in aid to the millions upon millions dispossessed in the Middle East. At least as one of those countries responsible ,we should pull our weight in ameliorating the situation.