U.S. superpower reign ending?

www.samsungbola.com |Agen Bola dan Kasino Online | Agen Bola Terpercaya | Bandar Bola |

Andreas Krieg: Barack Obama does not want to be remembered as the President who embarked on a third Mideast adventure.The U.S. strategy towards the Mideast has been disengaging, writes Andreas KriegPresident Barack Obama increasingly appears to be the lame-duck, he writesKrieg: Good cooperation with Tehran allows the U.S. to put pressure on its Arab partnersAmerica's credibility as a superpower is in doubt, he saysEditor's note: Andreas Krieg is an assistant professor at the Defence Studies Department of King's College London. He currently works as an advisor to the Qatari Armed Forces in Doha. Follow him on Twitter. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- The Pentagon's recent statement that Iran may have conducted air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq's Diyala Province is tantamount to a U.S. tacit approval of Iran's growing military footprint in Iraq.

No military operation of such scale evades detection from U.S. radars. Even if not pre-approved or coordinated, Iran's air and ground operations against the murderous thugs of self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi make the Islamic Republic effectively a U.S. partner in the fight against America's greatest enemy: Islamist fundamentalism.

The U.S. strategy towards the Middle East since the Arab Spring has been defined by proactive disengagement and hesitance.

Haunted by the legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan, the American public has no stomach to get bogged down in lengthy ground-intense military operations -- particularly not to fight a fight that at least in Washington is perceived to be primarily a matter of regional concern.

var currExpandable="expand15";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='politics/2014/11/06/tsr-sciutto-iran-isis-strategy.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://situationroom.blogs.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140614141751-hassan-rouhani-iran-president-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand15Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand25";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='bestoftv/2014/11/16/ip-kassig-obama-isis-strategy.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/141116090746-ip-kassig-obama-isis-strategy-00012312-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand25Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand35";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='world/2014/11/12/intv-jimmy-carter-us-politics.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://edition.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/141112110623-intv-jimmy-carter-us-politics-00022715-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand35Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand45";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='us/2014/11/10/tsr-dnt-acosta-obama-influence-tested-beijing.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://situationroom.blogs.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/141110200513-tsr-dnt-acosta-obama-influence-tested-beijing-00001414-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand45Store=mObj;And it seems as if apart from a general war fatigue and casualty aversion back home, U.S. President Barack Obama does not want to be remembered as the President who embarked on a third Middle East adventure. As a hostage of public opinion, Obama in his second term increasingly appears to be the lame-duck choosing a path of minimal resistance overseas, making decisions not based on long-term strategic considerations but based on a short-term approach of damage control.

In Libya, Syria and Iraq the U.S. has taken a backseat calling on local partners and proxies to take over. Any ex-ante foreclosure of boots on the ground means that the U.S. will not bring its military might to bear to deal with those threatening to tear the Middle East apart.

In Syria the U.S. ignored the problem of Bashar al-Assad, in Iraq it turned a blind eye to Nouri al-Maliki's policies of exclusion while allowing Libya to degenerate into a state of anarchy. Without a sustainable proactive strategy towards the Middle East, the U.S. policy towards the region was more often than not shaped in reaction to quickly escalating events on the ground.

As a result, the U.S. today looks at a region where the states of Libya, Syria and Iraq have effectively ceased to exist. The socio-political vacuum has been filled by transnational non-state actors of whom many subscribe to the black banners of jihadism -- something that leaves the American public deeply unsettled.

The broadcasted images of U.S. citizens being brutally beheaded in front of a global audience shook America to its core. After years of relative disengagement and idleness, Obama is now forced to do something in Syria and Iraq at last. Thereby, the overriding principle seems to be to keep the military footprint as small as possible.

The major burden of intervention has to be borne by force multipliers who operationally as well as strategically substitute U.S. willingness and capability -- all this in a war that is no longer about protecting the revolutionary achievements of the Arab Spring but about primarily containing the threat of Islamist fundamentalism.

The overriding principle seems to be to keep the military footprint as small as possible
Andreas KriegIn this war, Libyan renegade general General Khalifa Haftar, al-Assad and Iran are the lesser of two evils. The unlikely coalition formed the multilateral response of the U.S. administration to the dilemma of reconciling public security concerns with public war fatigue. Everyone seems welcome. Yet, Iran appears the more reliable partner: a regional superpower with the necessary capability, strategic will and input on the ground.

Good cooperation with Tehran, even if indirect, allows the U.S. to put pressure on its Arab partners in the Gulf to step up their game against Islamist fundamentalism in the region.

At the same time the U.S. wants the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf to constructively commit to providing the options on the ground, the U.S. is no longer able or willing to provide. Not to forget, the rapprochement with Iran also allows Obama to put a final end to Netanyahu's saber rattling vis-à-vis Tehran. The U.S., although committed to Israel's security, will not be available for a military solution to the Iranian nuclear question.

The American-Iranian rapprochement on the region's most sensitive battlefield of all things, further undermines America's position in the Middle East.

Apart from losing the hearts and minds of the region, America's credibility as a superpower is in doubt as long as capability is constrained by the political unwillingness to use it.

Without the American willpower to take a more long-term strategic approach to tackling the socio-political root causes of regional upheaval, regional players, including al-Assad, will step in to develop their own strategy independently. The result will be a gradual intensification of regional confrontation along sectarian and ideological fault lines -- a confrontation to which the U.S. will be a mere onlooker.

Today's five most popular storiesDecember 24, 2014 -- Updated 0254 GMT (1054 HKT) A decade on from devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Red Cross' Matthias Schmale says that the lessons learned have made us safer. December 24, 2014 -- Updated 0024 GMT (0824 HKT) As soon as word broke that "The Interview" will hit some theaters, celebrations erupted across social media -- including from the stars of the film.December 23, 2014 -- Updated 1844 GMT (0244 HKT) Did a rogue hacker -- or the U.S. government -- cut the cord for the regime's Internet? December 24, 2014 -- Updated 0106 GMT (0906 HKT) Monaco's newborn royals, Princess Gabriella and Crown Prince Jacques Honore Rainier, posed for their first official photos with their parents.December 23, 2014 -- Updated 1706 GMT (0106 HKT) What's next for the Internet? Acclaimed scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee shares his insights.December 23, 2014 -- Updated 0822 GMT (1622 HKT) The United States and North Korea have long been locked in a bitter cycle of escalating and deescalating tensions. But the current cyber conflict may be especially hard to predict. December 22, 2014 -- Updated 2100 GMT (0500 HKT) A chilling video shows Boko Haram executing dozens of non-Muslims. December 22, 2014 -- Updated 1134 GMT (1934 HKT) New planes, new flight tests ... but will we get cheaper airfares? December 21, 2014 -- Updated 1746 GMT (0146 HKT) The killing of two cops could not have happened at a worse time for a city embroiled in a public battle over police-community relations, Errol Louis says.December 22, 2014 -- Updated 0251 GMT (1051 HKT) The gateway to Japan's capital, Tokyo Station, is celebrating its centennial this month -- and it has never looked better. December 20, 2014 -- Updated 1621 GMT (0021 HKT) Unicef has warned that more than 1.7 million children in conflict-torn areas of eastern Ukraine face an "extremely serious" situation.December 22, 2014 -- Updated 1701 GMT (0101 HKT) Each day, CNN brings you an image capturing a moment to remember, defining the present in our changing world. Browse through images from CNN teams around the world that you don't always see on news reports.

www.samsungbola.com |Agen Bola dan Kasino Online | Agen Bola Terpercaya | Bandar Bola |