Strategic Assessment

The global international system which President Clinton encountered when he entered the White House on January 20, 1993, was fundamentally differentג€”in terms of structure, the rules of the game and the nature and characteristics of its main powersג€”from the bipolar-confrontational system, which had been consolidated during the Cold War era. For forty years (excluding a brief interlude at the beginning of the Carter Presidency), American policy in the Middle East had been patterned on the belief that international crises were seldom local, isolated phenomena, but rather elements within the worldwide communist effort to disrupt the global balance of power and thereby to threaten the security of the US. Convinced that events halfway around the globe automatically had a direct impact on America’s core interests, the architects of American diplomacy during the Cold War years underscored the need to stand firm and resist any attempt at encroachment, whatever its origin or location might be.