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Power Problems • December 26, 2023 

# The Middle East Is a Powder Keg. Washington Is Making It Worse. 

Renewed conflict in the Middle East increases the costs and risks of America’s entanglement in the region, and despite the strategic case for retrenchment, there is no sign of a substantial change to U.S. foreign policy there. Jennifer Kavanagh of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discusses America’s costly, security-first approach to the Middle East, the Biden administration’s support for Israel, policy inertia and the reluctance to change posture, the risks of escalation, backlash, and overstretch, and why the use of force in U.S. foreign policy is increasingly ineffective.

**Show Notes**

- [Jennifer Kavanagh bio](https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/2172)
- Jennifer Kavanagh and Frederic Wehrey, “[Washington’s Looming Middle Eastern Quagmire](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/washingtons-looming-middle-eastern-quagmire),” *Foreign Affairs*, November 24, 2023.
- Jennifer Kavanagh and Bryan Frederick, “[Why Force Fails](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/us-military-why-force-fails),” *Foreign Affairs*, March 30, 2023

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Jennifer Kavanagh](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-06/Jennifer-Kavannagh.jpeg?itok=rro3IyyC) 

##### Jennifer Kavanagh 

Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities

![John Glaser](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/John%20Glaser.jpg?itok=-uvxR8zG) 

##### John Glaser 

Host, Power Problems Podcast

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](https://twitter.com/jwcglaser)