******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Is it not conceivable that the Middle East and its different constellation of power is one in which traditional foreign policy "realism" is being violated, while it is not in other contexts? As for why & how, Israel is tremendously more powerful than its neighbors, especially after the 1967 war and with its procurement of nuclear weapons. It should be fairly obvious that it would have more influence than other states, let alone the Palestinians. Moreover, because Israel is a settler-colony built largely from without, it has a political advocacy network that stretches well beyond the Middle East. These are (some) of the factors that make Israel distinct, and, in my view, contribute to how Israel is able to advocate effectively for what its politicos think is in its best interest, often at the chagrin of US foreign policy planners. There has been a tension between people in the foreign services, the state dept, the CIA, etc. and support for Israel since the days of Truman, and it only became more pronounced after 1967 when Israel became an even more influential and prized asset. Moreover, things like the Iraq War also show clearly that the US policy in the Middle East specifically is more irrational. The US invasion Iraq was by most IR "national interest" standards a tremendous disaster, even if it worked out in the short-term interests of many zealots and profiteers. - Amith On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 8:40 PM, Ken Hiebert via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > I see that the name of Alison Weir has come up in this discussion. It may > be illuminating to look at (one of) her websites. > > http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/new/category/cni/weir/ > The Council for the National Interest > Working for Middle East Policies that Serve the National Interest > > I am intrigued by the idea that there is one place in the world, the > Middle East, where the US pursues polices that do not serve the national > interest. Elsewhere, Cuba, Venezuela, Libya, Ukraine, etc. the U. S. is > effectively working for its national interest and therefore we have no need > to criticize those policies. Why is that? Why would US policy in one > region be so much at variance with policies elsewhere? > > ken h > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
