The "Greater" Middle East: The New Geopolitical Environment and Its Implications for Obama Administration Policies

Hudson Institute Presidential Transition Papers

January 8, 2009
by Hillel Fradkin

President-elect Obama faces serious geopolitical challenges

in the Middle East, Central, and South Asia—a region best

described as the "Greater Middle East." The immediate policy

objectives of the President-elect—to withdraw our forces

from Iraq and to redouble our efforts in Afghanistan —dictate

that near-term policy will be sharply focused on two countries:

Iran and Pakistan.

In Pakistan our clearest objective should be to give as much

support as possible to the new government. In Iran, the new

administration looks likely to make a renewed effort to

negotiate nuclear issues. In the case these negotiations fail—

and they probably will—the Obama administration will

have to immediately undertake a wide-ranging review of new

strategies to deal with a nuclear Iran.

Hillel Fradkin is a Senior Fellow and Director for the Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World at Hudson Institute.

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