you go to war with the allies you have, not the ones you wish for, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld. President Barack Obama’s war on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is a good example. His Middle East coalition comprises five autocracies, four of which are monarchies. To one degree or another, each represses dissent. Each, indirectly or inadvertently, has helped spawn groups such as Isis, Khorasan, Jabhat al-Nusra and, of course, al-Qaeda. Each will reap longer-term profit from assisting the US in its hour of emergency. Things have worked this way in the Middle East for decades. At a moment like this, it would be naive to expect Mr Obama to change that.
唐納•倫斯斐(Donald Rumsfeld)說過，上戰場時，你只能帶上你所擁有的盟友，不能帶上你想要的盟友。美國總統巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)對「伊拉克與黎凡特伊斯蘭國」(ISIS)的戰爭就是個很好的例子。他在中東的聯盟由五個獨裁國家組成，其中四個是君主制國家。這五個國家或多或少都懷有異心。它們要麼間接、要麼無意地，幫助了ISIS、呼羅珊(Khorasan)、Jabhat al-Nusra——當然還有基地(al-Qaeda)——等組織的誕生和發展。在美國處於緊要關頭之際對它施以援手，會讓它們每個國家都從中獲得更長遠的利益。幾十年來，中東的套路一直是這樣的。如今，如果你認爲歐巴馬會改變這種模式，那你就太幼稚了。