| Publication |
2011.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Recent popular unrest across the Arab world has sparked fresh debate over the scope of multinational intervention in 21st-century emergent humanitarian crises and the perimeters of promoting democratization in the developing world; it has also prompted reassessment of the United States' ability to maintain its system of longstanding regional alliances in the face of economic recession at home, and amid President Obama's apparent disowning of his predecessor's ebullient pre-emptive posture.
Barack Obama's attempts to defuse visceral anti-Americanism in the Arab world have been accompanied by assurances that the United States would speed up its pull-out from Iraq and Afghanistan. Coupled with an initially less belligerent approach to Iran's nuclear program than was postulated by George W. Bush, then followed by an initially cautious reaction to the Egyptian and Libyan uprisings, Obama's foreign policy has given rise to speculations about a possible scaling-down of U.S. immersion in the Middle East in favour of focusing on domestic issues and on better managing China's rise in the Asia-Pacific region.
From Israel, through to Saudi Arabia, and Australia, allies historically vulnerable to regional isolation of various kinds observe closely the Obama Administration's reactions to the demonstrations rocking the Arab world (and Iran); analysts in these countries often wonder about the significance of Obama's professed non-belligerence to their respective national-security interests. A few on the periphery of their countries' security establishments are even propelled to speculate openly that the United States might ultimately disengage from their arena in order to focus on domestic issues, or on other parts of the world.1
Framed within this changing geo-political landscape, this article will consider the current pulses shaping the Sino-Israeli relationship against the backdrop of the great civil unrest sweeping across the Arab World. It will start by identifying the historical policy narratives that have carried over …
|