President Barack Obama must not allow the enormity of our nation's economic crisis to eclipse the very real and imminent dangers across the globe. In his role as Leader of the Free World, it falls on him to put the Earth back on its proper axis. He should start with the Middle East. Tensions there affect countries all over the world, and only the United States can provide the leadership necessary to forge progress in a region marred by so many years of conflict.
In order to quell the rising tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the West must subdue Hamas, the hard-line Islamist militia-cum-political party that controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and continues to promulgate terrorist acts against the Jewish state. Although Hamas is genealogically an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood -- an Arab-Sunni militant organization headquartered in Egypt -- the group now receives much of its financial, military and ideological support from the Persian-Shiite theocracy that governs Iran. To subdue Hamas, we must halt the flow of weapons and funding Iran now funnels into Gaza, and we must do our utmost to prop up the moderate, secular Palestinian Authority, which currently controls the West Bank.
However, in order to dissuade Iran from supplying Hamas, and thus from inciting further bloodshed and rancor between the Palestinians and the Israelis, we must bring Iran to the negotiating table. I applaud President Obama's efforts on this front. Without Iranian aid, Hamas would not be able to prolong its violent campaign against Israel, and peace might take hold.
Iran, however, enjoys expansive influence in the region, and it is unlikely to quit aiding Hamas, Hezbollah and other Islamic terrorist organizations. Adding fuel to the fire, Iran's nuclear (weapons) program is moving aggressively forward.
Without Russian technology, tutelage and funding, however, Iran would be unable to succeed in this venture. Accordingly, Obama must convince Russia to discontinue its financial and technological aid to Iran's nuclear program.
Russia, though, has entrenched economic interests in Iran, and thus is loath to interfere in the matter of Iran's nuclear ambitions. As one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia has veto power over U.N. resolutions regarding international security. Due to Russian obstinacy, the United States has been unsuccessful in its efforts to enforce stricter sanctions against Iran. We must impress upon Russia the extent to which an Iranian nuclear weapon would destabilize the region, and perhaps the world.
We currently have little leverage over Russia -- though we do have one carrot and one stick.
First, the carrot: President George W. Bush began planning for an anti-ballistic missile shield to be built in Eastern Europe. An Iranian nuclear weapon would only make this ridiculous -- and ridiculously expensive -- project seem all the more worthwhile. Russia is aghast at the idea of the missile shield. However, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev knows that Obama is unenthusiastic about the project, and is unimpressed by Obama's offer to table it if Russia helps us deal with Iran. Furthermore, neither Russia nor the United States can afford another arms race -- and Russia knows this as well as we do. A carrot is only as effective as it is enticing. As of now, Russia just won't bite.
So we turn to the stick. Russia is threatened by the prospect of a missile shield, but it is absolutely incensed by the West's encroaching influence in former Soviet republics. Indeed, Russia has been particularly belligerent in the last year in confronting former Soviet republics that stray from Russia's party line, including a brief war with Georgia and two instances in which Russia shut off the gas supply to Western Europe due to a spat with Ukraine.
At the moment, President Medvedev seems to sincerely desire better relations between the United States and Russia; however, he seems unwilling to offer conciliations towards that end. President Obama should discontinue plans for the missile shield -- for many reasons, diplomatic and otherwise. But he should also pursue the prospect of NATO expansion eastward, unless Russia meets us halfway on the subject of Iran.
