Kaboom

Former US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke, writing for the WaPo:

Two full-blown crises, in Lebanon and Iraq, are merging into a single emergency. A chain reaction could spread quickly almost anywhere between Cairo and Bombay. Turkey is talking openly of invading northern Iraq to deal with Kurdish terrorists based there. Syria could easily get pulled into the war in southern Lebanon. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are under pressure from jihadists to support Hezbollah, even though the governments in Cairo and Riyadh hate that organization. Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of giving shelter to al-Qaeda and the Taliban; there is constant fighting on both sides of that border. NATO's own war in Afghanistan is not going well. India talks of taking punitive action against Pakistan for allegedly being behind the Bombay bombings. Uzbekistan is a repressive dictatorship with a growing Islamic resistance.

That’s just the first paragraph. And it only goes downhill from there.

Of primary concern is that we are currently being led by a group of people who have no idea how to address any of it in an effective, competent manner. Says Holbrooke: “Unfortunately, there is little public sign that the president and his top advisers recognize how close we are to a chain reaction, or that they have any larger strategy beyond tactical actions.” This shouldn’t be a partisan concern. Irrespective of ideological differences on a whole quiver of social and domestic issues, anyone with a lick of sense ought to be gravely distressed by the administration’s deeply flawed foreign policy. About the only people I can imagine feeling secure with Bush at the helm right now are those whose entire position on the Middle East is “Blow the fuckers to kingdom come.” But, you know, that’s not technically what international experts call “a good idea.”

I fear for the worst and hope for the best—and prepare myself for calamitous disappointment.

(Hat tip Michael.)