OBAMA’S MID-EAST FOLLY

The Last Crusade ^ | November 20, 2009 | Barry Rubin

[Tamar Rush]

Prez. Incapable of making rational decisions

Frolicking in the Quicksand: How the Obama Administration Keeps Making Huge Mistakes in the Middle East

By Barry Rubin

thelastcrusade.org

Of course, the Obama Administration has its defenders. They either ignore criticism of the Administration’s foreign policy or claim it is all partisan and ideological. And yet the truth is that if you watch the government's policy on a daily basis it is truly remarkable how many dumb, avoidable mistakes are made.

I won’t supply a long list here but instead will talk about the latest one. Let’s take it step by step to see what a mess is being created.

Background: Israel announced in 1993, at the time of the Oslo agreement with the PLO, that it did not view construction on existing settlements as a violation. The Palestinians, during the ensuing 16 years, never made this a big issue. The U.S. government, while it can say it technically opposed this, was pretty quiet about it, never did anything.

Then President Barack Obama came to office and made the construction issue the centerpiece of his Middle East policy, sometimes it has appeared to be the keystone of his whole foreign policy.