Biden’s Israel Policies Are Still on the Wrong Track
Biden’s Israel Policies Are Still on the Wrong Track
The president is clinging to his long record of a bellicose approach to foreign relations—even as public opinion is going the other way.
I'm very unhappy with Biden's stance toward Israel. What strategic significance does that state have that outweighs what increasingly looks like genocide? It has to be something so important yet unpalatable to the voting public that it's worth appearing to come down on the wrong side of history.
Does anyone have any ideas? Is having a western democracy in the middle east that we can work with worth giving said government carte blanche to exterminate their neighbor?
The US has a long track record of supporting some of the most brutal regimes all around the world if it serves their geopolitical interests. In that way its support for Israel isn’t much of an anomaly.
More specifically though, Israel serves as a base from which the US can project military power. That prevents other states in the region from taking full advantage of their natural or geographic resources.
For example, the US wants to ensure oil is traded in US dollars. That creates demand for the dollar which inflates its value relative to other currencies. In that way, US financial capital is given an advantage over the rest of the world. This arrangement isn’t necessarily ideal for oil rich countries as it essentially means some of the value of their oil is getting siphoned off. However, the threat of military intervention may keep these states in line. However, many of them have started to experiment with trading in other currencies which might make the US uneasy.
The second thing I can think of is the US wants to ensure Egypt does not use the Suez Canal as a political weapon like it has historically. In such cases, Israel has been used as proxy through which western countries invaded Egypt to try and take back control of the canal. Since the canal remains very important trade route from which the US and its allies benefit, the US needs some sort of leverage to ensure it stays open to them.
I really appreciate the insight. I don’t think those things are worth US maintaining power in that region, but I imagine if I’m in the shoes of a world leader I might see things more ambiguously.
What might you anticipate from an older person with more life experience than active brain cells?