“Obama clearly intended his recent Middle East speech to fall into the last category, as reflecting a shift in strategy if not...”
Author referring to Bammy’s “Get back to your ‘67 borders” speech,
or the numerous speeches afterword in which he claims, “Oh, no, I never said “Get back to your ‘67 borders” at all!”
I think that Friedman is giving Obama too much credit. I don’t think that Obama has a geopolitical strategy of his own. And Samantha Power is an Isreal-hating leftist.
The Afghan war is stalemated.
Maybe that has something to do with Imam Obama's outreach to the "moderate" Taliban? We are stalemated because our own leadership does not believe there is any military solution to the conflict. Once the American people have overthrown the Obama regime and we have a leader who believes we can win, then we will win.
U.S. troops are being withdrawn from Iraq, but that does not mean the conflict is over. Instead, the withdrawal has opened the door to Iranian power in Iraq.
Gee wouldn't it be horrible if the USA got out of the way and allowed the Sunni and Shiite jihadis of Iraq kill each other? That would suck, huh?
The United States could not pacify Iraq with 170,000 troops facing determined opposition
Please, snap out of your dream world. Iraq is pacified. The war is over. WE won! Get over it RATS!
the United States could not conduct a war in the region without regional allies
Yeah because everyone knows that its America's allies who make all the difference. What would we do without our close allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan?
the places where the risings have the most support are the places that will be least democratic
Yes because the more people who support something, the less democratic it is.
Obviously, if Obama is going to call for sweeping change, he must address the Israeli-Palestinian relationship
Sure because Israel, the only democracy in the middle east, is all that stands in the way of democracy in the middle east. Everybody knows that.