Victor Davis Hanson
America is in the midst of the greatest domestic gas and oil revolution since the early 20th century. If even guarded predictions about new North American reserves are accurate, over the next decade the entire continent may become energy-independent, without much need of petroleum imports from the
America's diminishing reliance on the Persian Gulf coincides with mounting Chinese dependency on Middle Eastern oil and gas. So as the Persian Gulf becomes less important to us, it grows even more critical to the oil-hungry, cash-laden -- and opportunistic -- Chinese.
After two wars in the
The usual Arab complaint against
After the Gulf War of 2003, there was widespread new anger about the use of American arms to force-feed democracy down the throat of
Let's get this all straight. America has been damned for its Machiavellian shenanigans in supporting authoritarian governments; for its naive idealism in using force to implant democracies; for its ambivalence in not using force to protect democratic protestors; and for its recent isolationism in ignoring ongoing Arab violence. Why, then, bother?
There are other growing fault lines. The old conventional wisdom was that Sunni Muslims shared Israeli fears of a Persian bomb on the horizon. The new conventional wisdom is that the Arab masses that are propelling the Muslim Brotherhood into power in
The subtext of Middle Eastern anti-Americanism is that the region, if given a chance, will embrace its own brand of freedom But that does not appear to be happening in
Newly elected Egyptian President
Note that anti-Americanism was often attributed to the unique unpopularity of Texan
Yet recent polls show that Obama is even less popular in the
Staggering U.S. debt also explains the impending divorce. With
Perhaps soon the problem will be that we simply will not have enough power to use it for much of anything -- and would have to ask the U.N. for permission if we did.
Usually nothing good comes from American isolationism, especially given our key support for a vulnerable democratic
And no one knows how to -- or whether we even should -- put it together again.
Twitter: @ihavenet
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- Egypt's President Reasserts His Country's Sovereignty in World Affairs
- The Truth Behind the New Islamic Flashpoints
- Middle Eastern Governments Continue to Let Their People Down
- The Islamophobe Fringe
- Iran's Ahmadinejad Cannot Deny His Own Words
- Western Sanctions Not Enough to Sway Iran from Enrichments
- Democratized Media Meets the Arab Political Awakening
- Middle East Madness
- War and Bluff: Iran, Israel and the United States
- Libya: From Gadhafi to Benghazi
- Who Needs Reform Most: Egypt or America?
- The Humpty-Dumpty Middle East
- Possible Stalemate in Syria Lesser of Two Evils
- Sheikhs and Shekels: The Real Cost of Patronage in Yemen
- Anti-American Protests in Arab Countries Continue
- Islam's Walls of Language
- The Geography of Iranian Power
- Tension Grows Between Israel and US Over Whether or When To Attack
- On the Ground in Syria
- Morsi's Plan to Keep the Egyptian Army Sweet
- Targeting Tribal Leaders: A New Militant Tactic in Sinai
- The Israeli Crisis
- Jewish Refugees Re-emerge as Issue for Israel-Palestinian Peace
(c) 2012. Tribune Media Services, Inc.