The British and the French had their chance to manage the Middle East before World War II and did not do a good job of understanding the complexities and nuances of the area, particularly the role of tribalism - a quick glance at the arbitrary borders of the region should be enough to drive that point home. The Americans became deeply involved in the Middle East during the Cold War (to secure energy supplies, support Israel and confront the USSR) and increasingly so after September 11, 2001 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq. American political leaders have long since ceased talking about victory and the focus now is on getting the remainder of American combat troops out of the region as quickly as possible (although naval bases will remain). The American public’s desire for a hasty retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan, compounded with the overwhelming popular disapproval of even limited military involvement in Syria suggests that Americans are weary of continued embroilment in the Middle East.
The American quest for the Holy Grail of ‘regional stability’ in the Middle East led successive American administrations to support
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has much say in the matter at this point. Hearing some conservative commentators speak of the Kerry-Lavrov deal to disarm Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad of his chemical weapons stockpile, one could be excused for thinking they were actually reading the text of the 1938 Munich Agreement whose main feature, in the present case, is ceding all (remaining) American influence in the region to Russia. Could this really be the end of American imperialism in the Middle East? It is not yet clear if Russia's interests in Syria are a one-off, pragmatic way to secure their own Mediterranean toehold at the port of Tartus and demonstrate solidarity with a misbehaving client state, or if Russia is signaling a broader shift to increased involvement in th region. Russia has long supported Iran and Syria as its proxies in the regional Cold War that pits the Russian-backed Shia states against America's Sunni Gulf state allies. Is this just the next chapter in the same story? Or is it, perhaps, a sequel with a surprise ending?