“‘Coercive diplomacy’ is a pat phrase Obama has used more than once to describe his preferred course of action, and, when it comes to Iran, I would emphasize the coercive side of the equation over the diplomatic. The American elites are unanimous in their verdict that the US must establish and maintain an American enclave in the Middle East: the only ‘debate’ is over where the main forward base is to be located. McCain says Iraq, and Obama prefers Afghanistan. Obama’s rise is based on a promise he isn’t prepared to deliver — and never made. Whether the voters wake up to that before election day doesn’t really matter, because the alternative is at least just as bad, and probably worse. What is needed isn’t just a new President — we sorely require a new foreign policy.” (07/18/08)