Spengler at Asia Times talks about proxy wars in the context of the current Middle East. It's certainly a defining feature, and there is indeed some major mobilization going on in response to the growing cleavage. We've run a bunch of "2006 Saudi Spending Spree" articles at DID lately; they certainly appear to be getting a lot more serious.
Of course, this will tempt the 'realists' who make millions defending them from lawsuits by 9/11 victims (hello, James Baker) to go back to the old policy of ignoring Saudi funding of Islamist hate and terror worldwide via the "Golden Chain," in exchange for limited assistance with other opponents. Michael Moore actually came close to getting that right in true "stopped clock" fashion, but of course managed to stumble right over it and, uh, move on.
Read in conjunction with Belmont Club's coverage of the State Department report that more or less advocates standing back and watching the cleansing of Sunnis from Iraq in "The Seventh Circle," which continues his fine "But Deliver Us From Evil" analysis of where Iraq's Sunnis find themselves in the wake of their fiasco of a strategy. Very interesting debates/ discussions/ links in the comments as well, of course. A while ago, I half-jokingly wondered if the Sunnis had ever heard the story story of General Custer. Given migration trends for Iraq's Sunnis and developing trends with the USA unwilling/unable to check al-Sadr (once again: why wasn't he dead in 2004?), Trent and Tom could well end up having called this one far in advance.
All this is very much in the realist mode of foreign policy - and while there are laughable examples of neo-Chamberlain "realists" acknowledging key realities re: our enemies and then forgetting that in the very same article so it doesn't get in the way of their conclusions, there's also a hard streak of hard measures. You won't understand the realists unless you grasp both their key (and durable, and historically consistent) blindness when dealing with ideological opponents, and also their contributions re: enemy weaknesses and how we might exploit them.
Whether that's something you're happy to have the USA do, of course, is another matter. But it sure is interesting to watch the Left slobbering all over the "realists" while stuff like this goes on.
We can't ignore our own stupidity in allowing Iraq to be emersed in the region. It is in our power to substantially cut the nation off from its neighbors, physically and economically. For the same nebulous reasons that the rest of our failures rest on, this was never done.
Obviously we can't cut off all the Saudi money or Syrian fighters carrying it into Iraq, but we could have done much more to stimy it. In effect this would have raised the cost of doing business for the insurgents. Something as simple as a belt of landmines on the Syrian desert border could have changed the entire complexion of Iraq.
Oh well.
bq Trent and Tom could well end up having called this one far in advance.
Speaking of a Stopped Clock. Even a blind squirrel...The Sunni leadership has been out of tocuh with reality for years. They bought into the al Qaeda line early. Some Tribal Leaders now wish they hadn't and are trying to change the course.
Personally I think the Sunnis in Iraq have committed suicide. I can't imagine the world view that allowed them to miss that all their neighbors hate them. That's what being a minority running a majority will do to you.