President Obama is one of the brightest intellects to occupy the White House and like another, Abraham Lincoln, he has been caught in intractable problems which are difficult to resolve. Lincoln used force to settle an issue which should have been solved peacefully. Barack Obama was elected in part because he promised to bring America’s foreign wars to an end and find a better way forward.
He was a reluctant partner in the Libya adventure; now we can see with good reason. He hesitated rightly over the crackpot plan to bomb Syria. He has told Israel it will go nowhere on the peace road unless and until it stops building illegal settlements. He has been lukewarm in supporting the so called moderate Syrian rebels, recognising that they lack enough popular support either to win or to form a sustainable government. He has limited support for Kiev to kind words and opposition to Moscow to pointless sanctions. He has sounded tough to appease his domestic hawks but has acted cautiously because he, almost alone, has seen a shift in the tectonic plates which drive international affairs.
One can discount the problems in Ukraine as the consequences of local adjustments following the break up of the Soviet empire, which actually have no global significance. The proposition that Russia is on the march West is ridiculous. The major threat to civilian populations now comes from Islamic extremism. Nobody now doubts this. The forces now allied in their opposition to Al Qaeda and the new grouping of the IS, are the West, Russia, Iran, Assad’s Syria and what is left of the Iraq state.
That turns on its head every supposition upon which Western foreign policy has been based. Time for Obama to ring Cameron and explain, but first he will have to ring Angela and explain what on earth the CIA are up to in her country.