Arab Spring Headaches For Barack Obama

[Purveyor]

Mr Obama's tough job this week just got that much tougher. To put it crudely, the question he has to address is: "When Israel kills demonstrators is that the same as when Syria or Libya does the same?"

For a long while the White House has been hinting at a big foreign policy big speech about the region. Initially it was thought of a new Middle East peace initiative. With things looking grim on that front it was downgraded to little more than getting his punches in first, before Israel's prime minister speaks to Congress at the end of the week. It was saved from being a contest with Bibi by Bin Laden's killing. This allows Obama a more panoramic sweep around the Middle East.

Doubtless his main theme will be that the Arab Spring is diametrically opposed to Bin Laden's ideology, and leaves al-Qaeda looking flat footed and out dated. With language that recalls the civil rights movement, he will back peaceful demonstrations for democracy and contrast them with violent actions for autocracy. In Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain and Syria, no-one is burning the stars and stripes. He may or may not spell it out, but there is an underlying sense from this White House, as much as the last, of that contradictory feeling that American exceptionalism is a worldwide export. Obama is likely to note that most of the demonstrators don't want to destroy the values that America and the West cherish, they want more of them.

That's fine as far as it goes. I've noted and you've discussed, many times on these virtual pages, that not all countries are treated the same. Mr Obama put himself on the side of the Arab Street in Egypt. Eventually. He was hesitant about intervention in Libya. But America has taken military action to protect the protesters. There are no sanctions against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Many are bewildered by that. The words are always pro-reform, pro-democracy. But the rulers of Bahrain and Yemen get a stern ticking off when their security forces kill demonstrators, not bombs aimed at their homes. In Saudi Arabia there has been little trouble. For small mercies, the White House must be thankful. A Saudi revolt would scatter the house of cards, that is Washington's unquiet melange of realpolik and progressive morality.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/13408059

[Uncle Joe]

1. I wonder who came up with the idea of just giving the Arab Awakening one season out of the year?

It's as if they didn't want this to continue.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[Demeter]

2. I don't see how they can stop it

Eric Prince doesn't work for free. The US is fresh out of armies. Europe isn't that stupid. China doesn't care, nor India. Japan has enough trouble of its own.

It's all up to the Saudis, those untested warriors, to hold back the summer.

I don't think they can.