President Biden’s trip to the Middle East most likely will produce nothing of significance. Such has been the case for past American leaders who have sought to broker peace in the region for the sole reason to keep oil flowing to the U.S.
What makes this trip even more pointless is that it will be one more entry in his ledger of botched foreign policy adventures. His bungled evacuation from Afghanistan, his Summit of the Americas that was absent some of the region’s most influential leaders, and his Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade initiative that lacks specifics.
It’s a weak alternative to the previous Trans-Pacific Partnership and the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Mr. Biden’s only possible accomplishment in his trip to the Middle East—the most recent of his ten previous visits—is to update his tourist photographs of the region.
Steve Coon 