, Columnist
In the Middle East, Thucydides Wins and Woodrow Wilson Loses
The brewing triangular deal between the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel is a reminder that in the region — and the wider world — it’s all about power.
Plan B.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Washington is buzzing with speculation about a historic “triangular” bargain between the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. If it pans out, each country would cede a lot but also gain a lot. Values and ideals will play no role in this haggling, however. The only currencies are national interest and power.
Quite right, and how could it be any different? That’s how old-style realists in world politics would react — from Thucydides in ancient Greece to Henry Kissinger in the Nixon administration.