tinians and their organisations and its suppression by Israel from generating into a regional war has been another challenge they faced. The Obama administration will increasingly face these challenges. It will attend to the needs and demands of the rulers of the Middle East and at the same time justify special relationship of the United States with Israel. It will rely on the Middle East leaders who are strategic allies of the United States in the efforts to meet the requirements of these challenges. It is unrealistic to expect the Obama administration to abrogate the United States-Israel strategic alliance. It is unrealistic also to expect it to use the same tactics used by the previous administrations in advancing the strategic interests of the United States ruling class and of its internal and external allies globally in general, the Middle East in particular. Given the dynamic nature of the world, responses to the present challenges cannot precisely be the same as those of the past. Obama’s statement that his administration will “seek a new way forward based on mutual interests and mutual respect” with Arabs and Muslims is a reflection of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s correct position that the neoconservative policies of the Bush administration will structurally turn the decisive majority of the people of the Middle East against the United States and Israel and that they should be abandoned for the flexible advancement of the strategic interests of the United States and Israel. In the words of the geostrategist: “These neocon prescriptions of security through military supremacy, of which Israel has its equivalents, are fatal for America and ultimately for Israel. They will totally turn the overwhelming majority of the Middle East’s population against the United States. The lessons of Iraq speak for themselves. Eventually, if neocon policies continue to be pursued, the United States will be expelled from the region and that will be the beginning of the end for Israel as well.” (1) Throughout the campaign, Obama clearly articulated the need for the United States to intensify its military efforts in Pakistan with or without the approval of its leaders and its right to take unilateral military actions against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist organisations in Afghanistan. He called for the intensification of the militarisation of the Middle East policy. He never criticised and questioned the legitimacy of the United States war on terror. Obama pointed out in his Inaugural Address that his administration “will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense.” He was sending a clear message to the rulers of the most powerful, expansive, moralistic, conservative, militaristic, brutal and ruthless system of the Anglo-American domination of the world that his administration will not apologise for its existence and will not waver in its defence. There is nothing new in this articulation of preparedness to defend the system at all costs by any means necessary. President J.F. Kennedy articulated it in his Inaugural Address on 20 January 1961 when he warned: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
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support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (2) He pointed out that the United States must be prepared to shoulder responsibility in leading the global capitalist system. He expressed this issue when he stated in his address that “In the long history of the world only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom from its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.” (3) It was in this address that usversus-them thesis was clearly and brutally articulated for the first time in the history of the United States foreign policy. Countries are forced to either become allies of the United States or accept the consequences of being regarded as its enemies. This is the same “You are either with us or against us” thesis articulated by President Bush following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. “Over time it’s going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity,” Bush said. Pointing out that it was time for action, he concluded: “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.” (4) The United States’ war on terror ensures a policy of containment for the Middle East. The Obama administration will not substantially deviate from the expansive, moralistic, conservative, militaristic, brutal and ruthless essence of the United States policy toward the Middle East. The United States relationship with the Middle East has been the history of the struggle for the accumulation and expansion of power and zones of control. Regarding itself as a model for the rest of the world, it has been dealing with the Middle East in terms of its “manifest destiny” thesis used to justify that it must meet requirements of insatiable thirst for its external expansion. Obama and his administration will not deviate from this essence of the United States policy. Ties and recycled members of cabinet and senior officials connecting the Clinton administration and the George W. Bush administration to the Obama administration and the prominence of those who were members of the Clinton administration are incorrectly regarded as some of the key reasons why the strategic value of continuity in policy will not be abandoned. Obama has articulated his position on this important issue before he was elected the president. During the campaign, he called upon the United States to continue being “the leader of the free world,” leading it “in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good.” According to him, the execution of this task is the issue of doing justice to its purpose in the world which “is to promote the spread of freedom.” Obama’s electoral victory is used to sell the idea to Americans that under his leadership their country will use its power not to create more enemies, but help to build its more acceptable view internationally more beneficial to the defence and expansion of its interests particularly in developing countries. Hilary Clinton alluded to this when she pointed out that by “electing Barack Obama our next president, the American people have demanded not just a new direction at home, but a new effort to renew America’s standing in the world as a force for positive change.” Al Gore, former vice-president of the United States, was more direct. In his words: “Barack Obama’s vision and voice represent the best of America. His life experience embodies the essence of our