Is Israel a critical ally of the United States?
Rick Perry did indeed give a more strategic argument on behalf of Israel during his speech yesterday, saying "Israelâ??s security is critical to Americaâ??s security."
Daniel Larison says it ain't so:
If we went through all of the allies deemed â??criticalâ? to our security, we would find that a large number of them could be fairly described as â??a very small country that simply isnâ??t very important.â? Indeed, many of our allies have become our allies because they hope to enhance their security at U.S. expense, and oddly enough many Americans have convinced themselves that it is imperative that we cooperate. These alliances and patron-client relationships often make sense for the other party, but very few of them make sense for the U.S. any longer.
I think the key phrase here is "any longer." It made sense to stack up a series of dependencies in the Cold War, when there was a reasonable chance of an all-out war with the Soviet Union. In today's world, the odds of a major great power war have diminished and where there is a heightened chance, it's in Asia, not the Middle East. Of course, the Middle East would be important in such an instance, since its natural resources would fuel the belligerents, but that doesn't mean a Cold War-era template should do the heavy lifting of protecting America's interests.
See also Andrew Exum.
