Barry Rubin: The Foreign Policy Establishment’s Debate on the Middle East Heats Up

The Foreign Policy Establishment’s Debate on the Middle East Heats Up

By Barry Rubin

WIZARD: “Back where I come from we have universities, seats of great learning–where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts –and with no more brains than you have…. But! They have one thing you haven’t got! A diploma!” –”Wizard of Oz”


Are we now leaving the Hooray-for-The-Arab-Spring and Isn’t-Obama-Doing-A-Great-Job-Making-Everyone-in-the World-Love-America Era into something new? At least for the first time in almost three years there is some serious debate developing.

First, let’s take a quick look at the bad arguments that have dominated government policy, media, and academic debate recently:

1. President Barack Obama has done a great job making America popular in the Middle East by showing sympathy for Muslims, Arabs, democracy, and Palestinians specifically.

False. Polls show little if any change for the better. Allies and really democratic opposition movements are less confident in the U.S. government; no enemy has become one iota less hostile.

2. The Israel-Palestinian peace process is the core issue and easily solvable.

Doubly false. The core issue is the battle for power between revolutionary Islamists against a mix of nationalist, conservative-traditionalist, and moderate pro-democratic forces. Second, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t want negotiated peace but a state unbound by compromise so it can pursue a goal of eliminating Israel. And that goes triple for Hamas.


3. Democracy is inevitable

Continue reading The Foreign Policy Establishment’s Debate on the Middle East Heats Up


Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press in January 2012. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reports, and now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media

Technorati Tag: Israel and Middle East.