America’s old alliance subsides into the sand
The order that the United States hoped to impose on the factious Middle East is crumbling in the face of Israeli intransigence and Arab suspicion
PAX Americana came to the Middle East with the end of the cold war in 1989 and of the Gulf war seven years ago. It looked good for a time. Today its pillars—the dual containment of Iraq and Iran, the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace, and the expansion of regional economic co-operation—are sinking into quicksand.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “America’s old alliance subsides into the sand”
From the January 24th 1998 edition
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