What are our real interests in the Middle East?  What would we find unacceptable?  Destruction of Israel?  Slaughter of the Kurds?  Annihilation of religious or ethnic minorities such as the Yesidis?  Closing of trade routes especially for oil?  Most people would probably agree on these.  Sure there are some isolationists that say none of this is our business.  That would be unrealistic.  Chase Yesidis up a mountain and public pressure demands we send in the planes and we do.  Nobody wants another Rwanda. Since the  beginning of the 19th century we have had warships with marines aboard protecting trade routes.  We’re not about to change now.  We feel a certain affinity towards the Israelis and the Kurds.  We have extended our protection to both for decades and that’s not going to change either.  What else?  Iran as Nuclear power is a problem we will deal with separately. Continue reading →