http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4255/us-foreign-policy-problem
Arabs and Israelis nowadays are both saying the same thing: “What is the matter with you people? You are going to walk away and you think your interests are going to be protected here?”
One of the things that has changed in this administration is that people who are fighting for democracy in places such as Turkey, Russia or China do not feel as if they have any moral or political support coming from Washington in a way that they have over the years.
Is this foreign policy reversible? My answer is yes for a number of reasons.
There was recently a remarkable article in the New York Times, based on an interview with the National Security Adviser, Susan Rice. In it, she described what the Times called the “new, modest U.S. policy in the Middle East.” Susan Rice said we have three goals in the Middle East:
Negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.
Negotiations with Syria over its chemical weapons program and over the war taking place in Syria.
Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians over Middle East peace.
What is striking is that it really is the foreign policy of Belgium: negotiations, negotiations, negotiations.
The foreign policy of the United States is, apparently, now to be centered in the United Nations, Brussels and Geneva, where we have talks about Syria with the Russians and talks about Iran with Iran’s representatives.
What is missing in this formulation? In one word: power.
The president seems to regard power and the use of power pretty much the way he regards, for example, sexism — as if this is a problem we had in the past; in past decades we had to deal with this phenomenon, but we have overcome it. As if this is the great thing about the United States: that we have gotten beyond an old‑fashioned concept such as the use of power.