Can the U.S. control events in the Middle East?
In Lebanonâ??s worst crisis in years, whose resolution may determine whether Hezbollah controls a government allied with the United States, American diplomacy has become the butt of jokes here. Once a decisive player here, Saudi Arabia has all but given up. In their stead is Turkey, which has sought to mediate a crisis that, given events on Tuesday in Beirutâ??s streets, threatens to turn violent before it is resolved.The confrontation here is the latest sign of a shifting map of the Middle East, where longtime stalwarts like Saudi Arabia and Egypt have further receded in influence, and emerging powers like Turkey, Iran and even the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar have decisively emerged in just a matter of a few years. It is yet another episode in which the United States has watched â?? seemingly helplessly â?? as events in places like Tunisia, Lebanon and even Iraq unfold unexpectedly and beyond its ability to control.
The jockeying might be a glimpse of a post-American Middle East, where the United Statesâ?? allies and foes, brought together in the interests of stability, plot foreign policies that intersect in initiatives the United States must grudgingly accept. - Anthony Shadid, New York Times
I think the framing of this is problematic - when could America ever "control events" in the Middle East, or elsewhere?
Shadid goes onto to chronicle how Turkey and other regional players are taking a more active role in trying to mediate the Lebanon crisis, but that's not a bad thing. Turkey and Lebanon's neighbors have a much larger stake in the outcome of the crisis than the United States, so it's natural that they should be out in front trying to resolve it.
