| This week the Middle East was thrust into turmoil when Israel launched an attack on Iran's nuclear projects and some of its top military leadership. Richard Haass served in a series of foreign policy positions in the White House and the State Department and went on to lead the Council on Foreign Relations for over 20 years. He told us that, at this point, we have more questions than answers, including about "what more Israel plans to do," with Iran having a "massive set of options." Nor do we know what role, if any, the US played behind the scenes, though Haass says "based on my experience, if a US president tells an Israeli prime minister not to do something, Israel usually holds back." Haass isn’t as concerned about the price of oil at this point, noting that "oil prices are relatively modest, historically" and if they "stabilize in the low $70s, that's manageable." Although this "adds another layer of uncertainty to global economics overall,” for Haass "the bigger concerns are still 'Made in America.'" "Global leaders and central bankers no longer operate with a stable, predictable sense of what the US will do,” he said. “That alone causes them to hedge, and that has consequences." |
