Does The U.S. Have A Middle East Strategy Going Forward?
Submitted by Gregory R. Copley via OilPrice.com,
Senior-level sources in numerous Middle Eastern governments have privately expressed bewilderment at recent and current U.S. government strategies and policies toward the region.
But a closer examination of U.S. policies, now almost entirely dictated by the Obama White House, shows no cohesive national goals or policies exist, but rather an ad hoc set of actions and reactions, which are largely dictated either by ideological positions, ignorance, whim, or perceived expedience.
This is unique in U.S. history.
In short, the consistent pattern of policies developed over the past century has now been broken up, apart from some of the physical consistencies of legacy military deployments and basing, and by some trade and weapons program commitments. Even there, military deployments have contracted substantially in the past few years, and new U.S. defense systems sales to the region have been lost to suppliers from France, Russia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Germany, Pakistan, and others
In the 18 months until January 2016, the U.S. missed possibly $12- to $15-billion in sales of defense and energy systems in the Middle East, and a range of major new defense acquisitions from non-U.S. suppliers are under consideration by Middle Eastern states. At the same time, some of the U.S.’ major traditional allies in the region — Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, in particular — have felt compelled, for their own survival, to turn their back on Washington because of a perception of a divergence in values and goals.
Most U.S. policy officials — especially in Defense — insist that U.S. commitments and strategies in the region have not changed, but the actions and policies dictated directly by the Barack Obama White House, and mirrored at Secretary of State level, have proven antithetical to most states in the greater Middle East, with the exception of Turkey and Qatar. Some regional states, such as Oman, are concerned; others, such as Ethiopia and Djibouti, are now left feeling strategically abandoned.
The sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from their deployment at the Ethiopian air base at Arba Minch — from where Reaper UAV sorties were conducted against al-Shabaab in Somalia — was done in September 2015 without forewarning to the Ethiopian Government in Addis Ababa, and kept secret until an Ethiopian website disclosed it in early January 2016. The U.S. had signed a series of multi-year supply agreements with Ethiopian companies to support the base in the weeks leading up to the withdrawal, a firm indication that the decision to vacate Arba Minch was sudden and hastily planned.
The Arba Minch withdrawal coincided with growing U.S. hostility toward the Government of Djibouti — which is strategically integral to Ethiopia’s fortunes — and the very pointed siding of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Djibouti. This resulted in Saudi and UAE strong military commitments to Eritrea (to compensate for the loss of their Djibouti basing in the war in Yemen), another blow to Ethiopian security. But it also coincided with the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Addis Ababa to talk at the African Union, where he was accorded a very mixed reception based on his insistence on African states accepting his — Obama’s — stance on gay marriage, among other things.
Significantly, although President Obama’s team was warned against such provocations in advance of his Addis and Nairobi visits, most Obama Administration officials do not understand what they have done to offend some of the nations in the region. Even Kerry’s support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the rift with Djibouti did not win their support for Washington, as both states feared that the U.S. now supported Iran rather than the lower Persian Gulf states. The Iranian Government, however, has been under no such illusions, even among those who supported the G5+1 treaty with Iran to end some of Iranian nuclear weapons programs in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. They, too, see U.S. support for the Saudi coalition against them in Yemen.
The net result has been a bonanza for the PRC, and the deal by Djibouti to welcome a PRC naval base in the country was confirmed and cemented when Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh met in South Africa with China’s President Xi Jinping in early December 2015. This was a strategically successful gathering of African leaders with China’s leader within weeks of the Indian summit in New Delhi with African leaders.
The U.S. has done nothing of consequence to rebuild its position, which means that the strategic framework in the Middle East and Africa will, within a decade, be profoundly different from the beginning of the 21st Century.
(2 votes)
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Obama just does what the voices in his head tell him.
Obama called on Congress last night to pass legislation to authorize war on ISIS.
IOW: Wants to clearly shift the blame on a Republican Congress for his failed attempts.
And/Or
Wants to say his ISIS policy failed because Congress refused to act.
It’s a legacy protection thing.
Of course it does. It's called Israel: The Scourge of Empires >>> http://wp.me/p4OZ4v-eK
"Does The U.S. Have A Middle East Strategy Going Forward?"
Yeah, to stay puckered up and keep smooching that wailing wall.
Stategy? Order Out of Chaos. And, keep smoking Michael LaVaughn Robinson's aka Wookie Cock.
A jew bankster cocksucker muslim strategy, of course,
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/politics/iran-us-sailors/
I thought Soweto's policy was:
1) the USA-MIC to sell every nation there as many weapons as possible;
2) to drone as many people there as possible; and,
3) issue a statement for gruberized sheeple consumption every week such as "It's contained" "Mission Accomplished" "We're gaining ground" and so on and so forth.
No?
At least during the Clinton years at the state department there was a strategy: Dish out favors to those who could contribute the most to her campaign.
"Shee-yit, man! Nigga' don' care 'bout dat shit. Nigga' got a diffren' plan. He be bangin' it about da' bringin' da' homies here, bro! He be all about gettin' dat gun shit cleaned up. yo! And bustin' some caps in dem raciss' pigs! Da' nigga' be too busy for them Ay-rabs, shit! You ax 'em, ax 'em! He be tellin' it!"
Any questions?
That is sheer poetry.
Please don't tell me O'Tard is a jooo, I'd be so confused I'd start lusting after Bruce Jenner ;-)
For the life of me (I'm serious when I say this), I can't remember what Bruce Jenner's new name is... So much for 15 minutes of fame I suppose...
A Muslim Jew from Africa. Keep up.
No, he wants Allen to implement the actual military actions against ISIS, which Allen has spent a year NOT BOMBING while helping Turkey keep the supply lines into Syria alive.
Read Hersh's article on that episode, and ask who runs our government's military and foreign policy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar6I0jUg6Vs
Tarpley is a solid guy, it seems to me, and I come to the same conclusions as he did going over the same evidence. I didn't get to the understanding of the military going rogue, but have noted their major role in 9/11, their apparently independence in foreign policy wrt Clinton, McCrystal so free with anti-admin comments, and then Hersh.
Suddenly a lot of people are concerned by that Allen, Patraeus, McCrystal, ...?don't follow the military? tight group are not fully under civilian control.
Hersh, as in Seymour Hersh?
Look, it's as simple as this.
Obama is a black-nationalist-socialist, who genuinely believes that America (and more generally "the west" to include Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal etal) should pay for "colonialism" just like his communist father did, who was from Kenya=colonial Britain-German.
His "policy"( such as it is) is to sow discord, to "appear" to be in control when in fact his real policy is to cause conflicts, rifts, distrust and generalized mayhem "as a punishment" to the west.
Can you name for me one foreign policy success for America (as he is THE PRESIDENT) his administration has accomplished?
No, I thought not.
////
Wut...was it pointing out who Hersh is or the fucking socialist Obama is? ;-)
///
lol...fuckin commies.
don't quite understand the junks on that comment nmewn, I assure you it wasn't me
Truth hurts tremendously, it cuts to the very core of the targeted thing, it disembowels it and leaves it laying on the floor twitching for them to see before they drop, so they don't & can't comment on it...because it's true.
Actually I love my anonymous junkers as much as they absolutely despise me, it's very VERY enlightening for...all ;-)
Do you really think the war mongers have been listening ????? The CIA/GOP have their own agenda......... HE SAID LETS KILL THEM NOT GIVE THEM AID. Do you fuck your sister ?
As others have mentioned at ZH, and I fully concur, it appears the Wall Street-owned government supports the strategy and agenda of Saudi Arabia:
to depopulate the entire Middle East of any and all non-Sunni Muslims: Christians, Shi'a, Ibadi, Sufi, etc.
Then, to allow for Sunni food inspectors to journey to Saudi Arabia for arranged marriages with Sunni extremists from Pakistan with pharmacology degrees.
(And yes, I do believe they lost their tempers and Farook and wife returned in anger, as the combination of jihadi food inspector and a jihadi pharmacology grad should give everyone paus!)
'Obama just does what the voices in his head tell him.'
And the foreigner, Valerie Jerrett.
Yes, run and hide in the bunkers paid for with citizens taxes, then engineer an economic collapse and start WW3 plus make sure that there are enough Jihadi's in the West to start a race war.
That should be enough to cover up the failed ponzi scheme and take care of the over population problem......
http://beforeitsnews.com/global-unrest/2016/01/the-lion-is-it-time-to-fi...
More likely he does what his clueless harpies tell him to do: power, rice, nuland.
Obama is a Soros toy. Weakening the US with its enemies and destroying relationships with friends is straight from the Soros play book.
My guess... and I am no financial expert... is that after a bout of strengthening the dollar leverage will be applied to cause a collapse with Soros and friends on board to make a fortune. That is the usual game.
Yes - the US does indeed have a middle class strategy going forward....
Kill it
Euthanize it. Apply every known method of eugenics and develop more of them to rapidly cull that population.
In the eyes of the radicals it hasn't done enough to "heal the wounds of the nation"...(Cue...onion in hand and fake tears).
I think we are witnessing the thought through extinction of certain strata in the American Society. Vanished. Gone.
B.H.O. mmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmm hearts Iran
in other words, nutandyahoo is upset the usa no longer sucks israeli dick.
You know, if all you can do is bad-rap Israel, go for it, but, for pete's sake, at least do so in some sort of context relative to Israel.
just for your ignorance i will indulge you. the usa supports iran, israel's mortal enemy. in light of this the entire msm and zionazi controlled opinion makers network has trashed obabam personally and usa foreign policy.
you seem to know much about dick sucking.. Just sayin'.
the ad hominens are expected from the usual subjects. jews have the highest percentage of gay folk/capita. they are born that way.
Yeah just say fuck those land thieving baby killing fucks.........
Why, no one else does. It's the answer to every question on ZH.
Those flag officers faces at the whats left of the union speech is all I need to know. Get ready for something is coming
In my last few trips to the region I was surprised how many Chinese business men are running around there while for westerners it is increasingly dangerous. This is a direct result of the wars and drone strikes. It's sad but it seems that China won the war on terror.
The Chinese are more predictable. All they want to do is make money and they seem to attempt that within whatever system they find. The US, by contrast, tries to graft their order (or what they think is an order) onto other countries. They try to gain more advantage that they would be entiitled to. Through the TPP and TTIP network they are embarking on writing legislation via the threat of compensation lawsuits.
For decades Poland has been told they'd gain some sovereignty only to find themselves in the grip of Brussels instead of Moscow. The US has also used religious movements that disguised their influence peddling. Freedom, democracy, and sovereignty, sure. Now the hypocrisy is coming home to roost.
In the ME religion needs to be wound back from political influence. The US can never do that alone or with the allies that they have, especially when the allies become reluctant to pour more resources into a fight that cannot be won the way they operate.
The fight against a caliphate dictatorship in the ME or from the Caucasus to Urumqui in China requires cooperation, not Washington leadership that is so full of themselves that they have blinded themselves to reality.
the chinese don't interfere in local politics. they don't tell the leaders they must accept gay marriage. they don't tell the leaders they must do what china tells them to do. they don't want puppets.
they just want to make money and have a place to export people. that is the plan they have followed for a coupla thousand years.
Yup,
1. Blow shit up
2. kill people
3. steal their gold.
4. Become incredulous that they wouldn't happily suffer their ass-kicking and comply.
Stealing gold of both the yellow and black varieties.
5. Call the resulting poverty and chaos "freedom and democracy."
I'm going to be the first one to make this prediction.
When Trump wins the left is going to start domestic terrorism, especially gays with Joker hair color.
US policy - "You are our bitch, or we will fuck you up for the next decade until you beg us to rape your resources and strip your assets."
Do you mean GENOCIDE hasn't endeared anyone, or made them "straighten up"?
Funny how that works.
"But a closer examination of U.S. policies, now almost entirely dictated by the Obama White House, shows no cohesive national goals or policies exist, but rather an ad hoc set of actions and reactions, which are largely dictated either by ideological positions, ignorance, whim, or perceived expedience."
The first half of the sentence is clearly addressed and understood as the other side of the coin to the Obama admin's well thought-out strategies for the destruction of America: what Obama does here is never reflected in what he (secretly) supports elsewhere. The second half of the sentence misses this, big time, except in the "ideological positions" statement, which is the point.
None of what Obama is doing in either America or the Middle East is half hazard. He just got done saying, prior to his SOTU address, that he couldn't be more optimistic about this year. Hello! Translation: I've done my job, and if all goes well, this year just might be the fall of America.
It should be STAY HOME
RIGHT but we need to get that message to our soldiers. The polititians are all bought and paid for and so is the military brass so they won't quit, why should they? Our only hope is to get through to the patsies, the soldiers in the field, who are actually putting their lives on the line for the benefit of the military/industrial/political/surveillance complex, making a small handful of men very rich and powerful and make the boots-on-the-ground guys understand that they must take the initiative, GO HOME and STAY HOME, take care of their families. It's the only way this madness will stop.
Not Hillary
Not Obama
For starters
Yes, of course the U.S. has a strategy. It's the same as they've been doing - lots of hubris and arrogance.
Yes it does - well, not it's own of course, but it does... It's called Arab nation Chaos. And the continuance thereof. Brought to you by: Fill in the blanks with various Lobbying groups, dual-citizens in finance & government and even yes, entertainment...
Oh yes, there is a 'plan' alright.
Indeed. And really there is no doubt about it.
Its really two basic plans - the oded yinon plan and grand chessboard strategy, more or less as baked into the incoherent Wolfowitz Doctrine which apparently fell through a wornhole in a universe where Russia and China dont have nukes and formidable electronic/signals and aerospace capabilities.
Nasa has to use russian rockets for crissakes, and the f22 can neither evade the newest russian AA nor fighters. And their solution is use terrorism and risk nuclear war. There should be mass arrests in every major western capital by younger, smarter, saner types.
But - alas, there likely won't be before it is too late.