Roger Cohen, writing in the New York Times – his recent columns have challenged the Israel right or wrong brigade in the US – continues his exploration of alternative uses of American power in the Middle East (during an interview with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan):
Dreams aside, I see Obama moving methodically to dismantle the Manichean Bush paradigm — with us or against us in a global battle of good against evil called the war on terror — in favor of a new realism that places improved relations with the Muslim world at its fulcrum. Hence the early visit to Turkey, gestures toward Iran, and other forms of outreach.
This will lead to tensions with Israel, which had conveniently conflated its long national struggle with the Palestinians within the war on terror, but is an inevitable result of a rational reassessment of U.S. interests.