The New U.S. Irrelevance

I wonder if the NeoCons are happy now.....

The Blog Eric Alterman: The New U.S. Irrelevance The Huffington Post: (Read Full Artcicle)

Actions like Israel's not only cause 'disproportionate' suffering, they also strengthen the support of the extremists you're trying to destroy. Then again, no government in the world would sit still for missile attacks into its cities, and the Israeli public is probably more hawkish than its current government. Certainly, given the government we've got, we hardly have reason to criticize.

Speaking of which, there are two obvious points that need to be pointed out in the din, though I don't profess to be original here:

Look how irrelevant Bush has made us. By backing Israel to the hilt and creating virtually nothing but hatred in the Arab world, we have as much ability to influence events in this conflict as say, Singapore, stupid swaggering aside.


Thanks again, Ralph. Bush's invasion of Iraq has given Iran free reign to act as a chaos-causing, peace-threatening Great Power in a way it never had before. Whatever role they are playing in encouraging the violence, the geopolitical loss of Iraq as a counter-balance has made it worse. This is just one more reason the American invasion is the worst mistake I think any American president has ever made.