Middle East Headaches That Await The U.S. President After November 5

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Reuters

After November: 5 Middle East Headaches That Await The U.S. -- Tony Karon, Time

Last week's U.N. General Assembly session served up reminders that the next White House may have little option but to deal with a number of crises previously deferred

1. Despite Netanyahu’s Retreat, Avoiding War with Iran Will Get Harder

For all of his summer saber rattling and efforts to pressure the Obama Administration into stating imminent red lines for war with Iran, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effectively retreated at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. Despite the familiar apocalyptic rhetoric, Netanyahu took care to signal Israel’s cooperation with the Obama Administration on the issue. More important, he drew his own red line — somewhat confusingly, given the much lampooned graphic on which he relied — at Iran possessing a sufficient stockpile of 20% enriched uranium to reprocess into one bomb’s worth of highly enriched uranium.

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My Comment: I would also add (1) the continued dependence on Middle East oil and how an Arab Spring movement in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states may impact supplies. (2) Al Qaeda and Islamic extremism. (3) growing violence and sectarian conflict in Iraq.