The Slow, Slow Politics of the US in the Middle East

It strikes me that no matter what the party in power in Washington, the US really has no cohesive, workable policy in the Middle East and has been proving that again and again for the last 50 years.
I looked up this Goodreads review of mine of Kenneth Pollack's book called "A Path Out of the Desert" and was somewhat startled to realize that I had read it two years ago...when Syria first started shooting its own people and everyone thought the "Arab Spring" was a really cool thing....

Sadly, the problems it points out and the advice it gives are every bit (or even more) timely today as the region continues lurching around from crisis to crisis.



A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East by Kenneth M. Pollack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book at a particularly fascinating time - Late February and March of 2011. Each evening when I read another chapter, it seemed the day's actual events had just rendered the strategy outlined by Mr. Pollack in that section moot. The wave of revolutions large and small sweeping the Middle East as of this writing represent the 'worst case' scenario Pollack outlines if the US does not aggressively pursue a coherent and consistent strategy there.

However, despite the major theme of the book literally becoming obsolete as I read, it was still a very worthwhile undertaking. The deep history of the politics of each country and insight into the motivations behind them is very valuable. To be reading the section on Syria on the very day that the government was gunning down protesting citizens was not only a bit surreal, but added greatly to my understanding of the 'big picture'. It also confirmed my observation that television news in particular, but even some 'mainstream' Internet news sites are very shallow if not outright misleading in their coverage. It is plain that the very unpalatable choices faced by the US in response to today's events are the direct result of inadequate US policies in the past, particularly those of the 'Bush 43 administration', as Pollack refers to it, that probably aggravated and accelerated the unrest and instability in the area seen today.

Pollack's main theme - basically a consistent policy of constructive engagement (a 'carrot and stick') approach, perhaps even in concert with China (the other soon-to-be major superpower), is still worth studying and remembering. If the Middle East ever settles down from the current turmoil, the principles outlined will still be a useful guide. The new regimes will undoubtedly be less friendly to the US, but due to an insatiable appetite for oil in the US they will need to be dealt with...and Pollack's Path would make a good foundation.