Joe’s modest Middle East medicine
The Biden administration’s foreign policy realism leaves little room for peacemaking
DONALD TRUMP TRIED to be as different from Barack Obama as possible. But on the Middle East he ended up in the same place. In their different ways, both men tried and failed to reduce America’s commitments in the region. Joe Biden has the same aim—and has emphasised his alternative priorities, China and the climate, even more clearly than his predecessors did. The current violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the worst since 2014, is an early test of his prospects of succeeding where they fell short.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Joe’s modest Middle East medicine”
United States May 22nd 2021
- Having taken criticism for being overcautious, the CDC tries the opposite
- Joe Biden wants to Europeanise the American welfare state
- Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics—and failing
- Philadelphia reckons with the day its police force bombed a house
- How many American children have cut contact with their parents?
- Joe’s modest Middle East medicine
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
Donald Trump has again rewritten the history of January 6th
By pardoning violent offenders, he ignored his own team’s advice
America really could enter a golden age
Donald Trump would need to build on its strengths, and subdue his own weaknesses
To end birthright citizenship, Trump misreads the constitution
It would also create huge practical problems
Donald Trump cries “invasion” to justify an immigration crackdown
His first immigration executive orders range from benign to belligerent
The new American imperialism
Donald Trump is the first president in more than 100 years to call for new American territory—including Mars
The beginning of the end of the Trump era
The new president is more confident, and radical, than ever—and also more accepted