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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Second Guessing Obama's Middle East Strategy

It was pretty interesting to read this ForeignPolicy.com piece by Aaron David Miller on Syria after the White House announced a new set of sanctions targeting strongman President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials in Damascus.

It's been equally riveting to witness the whole carnival-like media coverage surrounding what is being billed as a landmark speech on the Middle East that the president is slated to give later this morning. The sheer number of pre-buttals -- of what Obama may say, what he should say, why he shouldn't say anything at all -- would be nothing short of stunning, except that this is D.C. and it's all we have to live for.

If I had more time on my hands, it would be an illuminating exercise to go back and re-read all the news coverage and opining from the past few days post-speech.

Instead, I'll likely be chasing down reaction and fall-out to the president's proposals -- the specifics of which have already been made public to a certain degree. A story I wrote last week scoped out the lay of the land ($$) on the Hill when it comes to aid for nascent democratic movements in the Middle East and North Africa. The White House is working with key senators on ways to channel economic assistance to Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the rebels in Libya, but, as I wrote at the time, "those efforts will face resistance in both chambers."

A round-up of other reporting I've done in the past week on the view from the Hill on the "Arab Spring":

- Weapons Sales to Arab Nations Need Fresh Scrutiny, Lawmakers Tell Officials ($$), 5/12

War Powers Deadline Approaches on Libya ($$), 5/13

- Senators Ready Sanctions Bill Against Iran as Obama Gets Tough on Syria ($$), 5/18

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