This weekend America announced that it was sending more troops to Iraq, Russia allegedly sent more troops into Ukraine and President Barack Obama set off for Beijing.
Ask policy makers in Washington which of these different parts of the world should be America’s top priority and the first response is usually a variant of – “We’ve got to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time.” Press on, and the replies get more interesting.
Broadly speaking, the Washington consensus seems to be that, of the two immediate crises, the one in the Middle East is more urgent than the one in Ukraine. One US national security official, whose responsibilities include both Russia and the Middle East, looked incredulous when I asked him, last week, which was the more important: “The Middle East, by far,” he replied.