Obama, Bibi & MENA...........

Iran, Israel and the USA dominate the world news scene here with the personal spat between Bibi Netanyahu and Obama monopolizing media reports. Interestingly, Netanyahu is a conservative who relies on the political right and extreme right to form a government in Israel. This puts him at odds with the vast majority of American Jews who reside much more to the political left and center than Bibi.

 

 Never have American Jews been so conflicted with respect to their ties with Israel. Their traditional liberalism goes back into American immigration history and its imported legacy of anti-Semitism. Only the liberals welcomed, or at least accepted, the Jewish immigrants. As a result, the offspring of these immigrants continue to support the liberals.

 

Such supporters are often wealthy professionals, businessmen, retailers, landlords and artists who could easily be counted among our conservative population. Many of our American 'champagne socialists' come from this type of background. It would not surprise me at all to begin witnessing a slow but gradual move to the right on the part of Jewish Americans.

 

As for Iran, our Dear Leader and senior diplomats are still sucking the dry and bitter fruit of negotiations that are going nowhere. It would be more realistic to expect world peace than a viable deal with the successors to the Persian empire. The Ayatollahs will have their nuclear weapons no matter what and will continue to promote Shiite regimes throughout the Middle East because it is their nature to do so.

 

Persia has long dominated all aspects of social, cultural, martial and economic life in the area in spite of the long-gone Golden Age of the Arabs. Americans are so fixated on the Saudis and Egyptians that we fail to examine what is going on among the Shiites and their prime movers in Iran. Bibi is correct in his desire to control the Iranian regime, but few people are listening to him and chief among them is O himself.

 

For his part, O seems to hold the opinion that his own personal goodwill, charm and vision will miraculously generate a calmer and more Amerophyle Middle East.  (You are right, Ameophyle is not a word, nor is Amerophobia, but they work for me and perhaps, some day, they will gain popularity.)

 

As for the Saudis, they are a third class alai. They are pathetically soft militarily and their so called air force is peopled by a bunch of playboy princes who have no stomach for conflict. The ruling elite are scared to death of the Wahabi religious leaders and of their being outed for their decadence and corruption. The bottom line is the Saudis are a very small, easily intimidated and disunited people who are totally dependent on the good will of the USA for their survival.

 

Egypt is and has long been an underachieving country with unrealized potential. Like the Saudis, they rely heavily upon American political and economic support. For the USA's part, these two countries provide a buffer between the Arab world at large and Israel. Just now, Egypt has its own social and economic problems to contend with and has again reverted to military rule to maintain order.

 

This country is the theological, intellectual and cultural head of the Muslim world, but has done little to parley this role into one of regional equilibrium.

 

Complicating it all are the ISIL fanatics and their extreme Sunni Muslim beliefs. Suddenly, the USA's biggest worry in the Arab world is this spawn of Saudi Arabia and allied Sunni Arab countries who detest the West as well as their own national leaders.

 

One light at the end of the tunnel is the prospect that the fanatical Sunnis will war with the fanatical Shias and thereby substantially neutralize their respective threats. Evidence of this happening is widening in places like Nigeria, Libya and even Tunisia. A deeper probe would undoubtedly explore more such examples. Who knows where this conflict will leave the Assad regime in Syria, but little by little Assad is looking more and more reasonable.

 

By way of conclusion, it should be noted that the American man in the street has little understanding or interest in the Middle East. Unlike the liberal Northeast, the population of Texas and the Southwest follows conservative gut feelings inculcated through a history of immigration from Northern Europe.

 

The Southwestern work ethic remains intact and foreigners are defined as anyone not from here. Middle Easterners from wherever fall into this category and are accordingly treated circumspectly at best. Politically, there is much more intrinsic support for Netanyahu's views toward the Arab world than Obama's even though few people here have any affection for either.