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Obama's new Mideast strategies taking shape
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-20 20:55

Obama's new Mideast strategies taking shape
US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell (L) talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 17, 2009. [Agencies]
BUSH'S STRATEGIC DILEMMA

The United States has pursued a "balance of power" strategy in the Middle East since the 1930s. After the September 11 terrorist attack, the Bush Administration decided to change its policies and viewed terrorism as the top threat against its national security.

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After the two wars that overthrew Taliban and Saddam's regimes, the Administration launched the Greater Middle East Initiative aiming at "democratization" of the region, which  dragged the United States into the worst dilemma since the end of Cold War.

Free elections have been a major part of the Greater Middle East Initiative. However, at times the results of elections were not only contrary to the wishes of the United States and undermined ties with its allies in the region, but also led to the rising of Islamic radicals.

THE CAUSE OF CHANGE

The Congress has approved US$657 billion for the war in Iraq and the country is expected to spend an additional 440 to 865 billion dollars on the war in the coming decade, predicted Congressional Budget Office last year.

The soaring cost of war will make US economy even worse amid the grave economic crisis and further strain financial situation.

The United States has tried to establish a Washington-favored world order to ensure its own security. For that end it will resort to interfering in other countries' internal affairs, or even waging wars.

However, the world today has undergone profound changes. Plagued by  worsening economic woes caused by financial crisis and ongoing global economic downturn, the United States has to tackle its domestic problems first. Its decline in world political and economic affairs are all the more apparent against the backdrop of the increasingly important role played by emerging economies.  That is the underlying reason for a prompt readjustment by the Obama Administration of its Middle East strategies and policies.