by Patrick J. Buchanan – November 20, 1997

With Russia’s Yevgeny Primakov, the ex-KGB chief, emerging as the “honest broker” between the United States and Iraq, it must be clear now, even at the White House, that U.S. Middle East policy is in a shambles. Saddam Hussein is breaking out of his isolation; the Russians are back in the Middle East to stay; and it is America that appears increasingly isolated in the region.

The great Gulf War coalition assembled by President Bush is no more. Our European allies, save Great Britain, have moved to the sidelines. Our Arab allies have defected. The great hegemonic power of 1991 finds itself virtually alone in its 1997 confrontation with Iraq.