For decades, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been to support “moderates.” The problem is that there are actually very few of them. The Arab world is going through a bitter, sectarian struggle that is “carrying the Islamic world back to the Dark Ages,” said Turkish President Abdullah Gul. In these circumstances, moderates either become extremists or they lose out in the brutal power struggles of the day.That level of realpolitik is seldom seen in the MSM. Now check out Zakaria's conclusion, which includes a direct slap at Hillary Clinton:
Asserting that the moderates in Syria could win is not tough foreign policy talk, it is a naive fantasy with dangerous consequences.By "moderates in Syria," Zakaria means the moderate rebels. To paraphrase him, Zakaria is saying pro-democracy moderates cannot thrive in the region - probably true.
The U.S. needs to lower its sights, recognize the best we can hope for in the region is anti-jihad moderate autocrats. Until we forced him into the embrace of Iran, Assad was an anti-jihad moderate autocrat. Similarly, the military rulers of Egypt are, from a U.S. point of view, moderate autocrats. That is, they don't advocate jihad against the West the way the Saudis do when they think we aren't looking.
