Posts
Middle East dilemma for US
Updated: 2012-10-19 07:22
By Dmitri Trenin ( China Daily)
Oct 20 is the first anniversary of the killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. But, tragically, before that the mass and violent protests in the Muslim world against the American film, The Innocence of Muslims, have claimed the lives of the US ambassador to Libya and his three colleagues. That they were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, the city where the anti-Gadhafi movement started last year and whose residents' safety led to the US-backed military intervention in Libya, has made the tragic incident all the more symbolic.
As symbols go, this one, to some, is proof of the utter failure of the US policy in the region. "Those who sow the wind will reap the storm", was what a Russian official said in Moscow after the US ambassador's killing. The protests over the film have since subsided. However, the larger issue of where the Middle East stands in the US global policy remains. In particular, will the United States be able to extricate itself from the region's conflicts enough to "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific region?
No comments:
Post a Comment