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Commentary
Wall Street Journal

The Middle East Is a Trap for Joe Biden

He is caught between the national interest and the demands of his political base.

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
The Middle East Is a Trap for Joe Biden
Caption
Tanks, armored vehicles, and military machinery belonging to the Israeli army withdraw from the central Gaza Strip on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The 19th-century British prime minister Lord Palmerston supposedly said that the Schleswig-Holstein international controversy of his time was so complicated that only three people had ever understood it: Prince Albert, who died; a professor, who went mad; and Lord Palmerston himself, who had forgotten all about it.

The modern Middle East is even more complicated than the Schleswig-Holstein controversy, and while the U.S. has no shortage of mad professors, the number of Americans who understand the background of the Israel-Palestinian dispute or the limited choices among which an American president can realistically choose is vanishingly small. As a result, America’s Middle East policy debates are almost always bitter and seldom smart.

Read the full article in the Wall Street Journal.