Obama's Middle East Chess Game Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

I have a piece up in the American Prospect looking at the Obama administration's early moves on the Middle East. Basic gist is that as in chess the opening is all about creating as many options as possible.  They've done a very good job of that.  But there is still hard work to come.

Comments

[Don Bacon]

Follow the bouncing ball. The same person wrote these two statements.-->

I have a piece up in the American Prospect looking at the Obama administration's early moves on the Middle East. Basic gist is that as in chess the opening is all about creating as many options as possible. They've done a very good job of that. . . .America's choices today are far greater than they were only 50 days ago.

Bob Kagan is the latest to latch on to the idea that Barack Obama's policy is a continuation of George Bush. This is an easy and intellectually lazy argument to make, mostly because it is physically impossible to turn around and change everything overnight.

[Dan Kervick]

Basic gist is that as in chess the opening is all about creating as many options as possible. They've done a very good job of that. But there is still hard work to come.

After reading the article, Ilan, it strikes me that this is just a way of saying that they don't really know what they are doing yet. And chess openings aren't just about creating options. Within four or five moves, the opening that is played establishes the overall pattern of the game. One ought to know what one is doing right from the start.

If there has been one consistent public diplomatic theme so far it has been that the various problems in the Middle East are linked, and they must be addressed with a whole new comprehensive approach. Making bold, serious progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was supposed to be a cornerstone of the new agenda. But the situation in that corner of the world is rapidly unraveling with a bloodbath in Gaza followed by the Israeli public's stunning lurch to the right and election of a rejectionist government. More quickly than we expect, strong eddies flowing from the degenerating situation in Israel could escalate into a regional maelstrom that drags Obama's plans down into the depths.

The world just got a loud and clear signal today that no matter how far Israel lurches to the right, or how intransigent and brutal their policies become, they still get a veto over executive branch appointments in the United States. People around the world looking for evidence that Obama will be able to extricate himself from the paralyzing constraints of US domestic politics, and step up to exert global leadership just found out the US is still struggling in the quagmire it has been in for about a decade.

[Mark]

With Obama's foreign policy is best summarized in this clever satire:

Swedish scientists prove Obama should not be compared to a chimp

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With Obama's foreign policy is best summarized in this clever satire

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With Obama's foreign policy is best summarized in this clever satire

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Other notable side-effects of the Obama diplomacy is that we have angered our closest allies and distanced ourselves from them--at the peril of our own national interest; while simultaneously made many countries who would like to do us harm if they could, smile in anticipation.