America is a great state and a great problem; a problem when the world doesn't understand it, a tragedy when it doesn't understand the world. Its abilities are enormous, and so are its mistakes. Both its hostilities and its friendships are costly. The world cannot tolerate to see it wash its hands of its problems. It needs America's weight for fostering solutions, offering aid, or supporting the status of the United Nations. At the same time, the world cannot stand America's crude interventions, the naïveté of its policies at times, and its ability to change and throw its allies off the ship. The story is an old one whose gravity increased when the Soviet Union resorted to museums. America is not going through its best times. Its great dream in Iraq is to pullout from there. Even those who brought in the invasion are washing their hands of it. Its dream in Afghanistan is for Karzai to succeed in reaching a settlement with Taliban. The war there promises to be bitter and long, without any opportunity for a final blow. This is not to mention the global financial crisis, the efforts of the great ones to restore or improve their positions, and the attempts of the opposing regional forces to mark points. The Israeli government is in the hands of a blind warrior. Netanyahu hates both the people and the land of Palestine and does not acknowledge their existence. His program is to achieve settlements and assassinate agreements and the Palestinian State before it is established. The slap directed to Joe Biden by Israel's friend in the US administration came in this context. Apologies do not change anything. Talking about wrong timing is like the excuse that is uglier than guilt. The slap prompted the region's inhabitants to ask about the fate of the man who lives in the White House – the man whose election spurred hopes that seem today to have been hasty; the man who toured the world and displayed his ability in elocution before disappearing. Whether he got engrossed in domestic politics or was afraid from the Israel-supporting lobby, the end result is the same. Netanyahu's government succeeded in depleting Barack Obama's start. It managed to recruit him and drain his balance with the region's inhabitants as well as their wager on him. Biden's statement in reply to the slap is not enough, despite its importance. The incident revealed that the master of the White House is busy, lost, perplexed, and hesitant. It revealed that Obama is not a general. If he were, he would've summoned Netanyahu early morning and made him take the road to peace. Meanwhile, the master of the White House received another slap, which came this time from Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president chose Kabul to insult the United States. Hours after the departure of the US Secretary of Defense, he went to meet with Karzai. He asked the Americans mockingly: What are you doing here? He asks almost the same question when he visits Iraq. Ahmadinejad denies the United States its right to interfere in the region. He says that is several thousand kilometers away. It is as if he considered that geographic proximity is what gives states the right of interference in the affairs of their neighbors, under the pretext of confronting the interference of others. It is obvious that despite its generosity with the Hebrew State, Netanyahu does not acknowledge the right of America to interfere to rescue what remains of the Palestinian land. He demands it to change its priorities and put the “Iranian threat” at the top of the list. It is also obvious that Ahmadinejad wants to benefit to the maximum level from America's current non-readiness to confront his country. He is trying to impose facts in the region. He is trying to make America acknowledge Iran as a great country in the region and perhaps enter into a partnership with it. He is trying to convince it that Israel has turned into a burden and is no longer a precious ally. It is a dangerous draining game. It is hard for Obama to be strong towards Ahmadinejad if he is weak towards Netanyahu. The US leadership's confusion towards the world portends great crises as well as costly risk-taking in the Middle East. The president who stirred hopes received two slaps at the same time. He does not have much time anymore to rescue his image. If he retrieves the lost key of peace and acts like a general towards the Hebrew State, then Iran will have to accept less than what it is asking for both on the nuclear and the regional levels.
