“It is hard to see much reason to expect any significant change in US policy towards the Middle East. On the Iraq War for example although both Clinton and Obama have announced their plans to withdraw American troops at some point; neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidates have expressed a principled objection to the invasion of Iraq,” said Dr. Michael Hudson, Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. “On the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict too, the candidates’ positions in favor of Israel have provided no reason to expect any dramatic change on the ground.”
Dr. Hudson’s comments came during a roundtable discussion entitled: “Middle East Challenges for the Next American President” organized by the American Business Council of Dubai & the Northern Emirates (ABC).
“The roundtable event provided an opportunity for political experts, academia and media to listen to a detailed analysis on the statements and policy platforms of each candidate towards the region. It presented a good chance to gain more insight into each candidate’s vision towards the region,” said Anne Jafery, ABC President.
With the US Presidential Primaries 2008 nearing an end, the likely presidential nominees are John McCain as the Republican Party representative while the battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the representative for the Democratic Party continues to heat up. Foreign policy will be at the focal point of each representative’s campaign and the next President of the United States will have to deal with a number of complicated issues in the Middle East in addition to other international issues.
“When it comes to foreign policy, the US presidential candidate’s main challenge is the Middle East, which remains the centerpiece of world conflicts; the Iraq war, the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and US Middle East political ties,” added Hudson. “Although the US has a particular interest in the region, there will be no genuine changes in the American foreign policy in the region. And if so, those changes will be relatively small and less than desired by the people of the Middle East.”
Apart from his position toward the Middle East, Hudson noted that while McCain and Clinton will not mark a serious departure from the Bush era, Barak Obama on the contrary, represents the most radical change that American need to reshaping the way the rest of the world thinks about the United States.
Hudson stated that the people of the Middle East have the right to be skeptical about the United States’ involvement in the region, “People of the Middle East still do not see the difference between the candidates arguing that democrats and republicans are two sides of one coin, and rightly so. However, I believe that Obama can be more rational and provide creative approaches to the Middle East. But first he will face stiff resistance from powerful interests groups that wish to see US policy continue its current course.”
Dr. Hudson is a noted scholar whose research interests focus primarily on regional conflicts, authoritarianism, and political and economic reform in the Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa. He has a particular interest in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the transnational Islamist and nationalist movements and US policy in the Middle East.
About the American Business Council of Dubai and the Northern Emirates:
The American Business Council of Dubai and the Northern Emirates is a non-profit voluntary association of individuals and companies promoting the development of commerce between the United States and the UAE. The ABC is a chapter of the US Chamber of Commerce and provides a networking facility for the members. The ABC works closely with the UAE community on matters of mutual awareness and works to heighten Dubai’s commercial position in the Middle East among the American business community.
