A shift in Mideast policy?

The New York Times’  Michael Slackman analyzes the “relatively subtle” shift in international policy toward the Middle East, away from isolation and toward cooperative engagement.  The announcement of undersecretary of state William Burns’ diplomatic trip to Iran only capped off a week of unusually diplomatic events.  France’s President Sarkozy, in inaugurating his Union for the Mediterranean, welcomed Syria out of isolation.  In spite of persistent violence, Lebanon formed a unity government.  

If nothing else, this shift acknowledges that peace and dialogue are often the most pragmatic routes.  In America, the current administration is beginning to realize that “the players who can deliver in hot spots like Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza are the same ones that Washington had shunned” – sovereignties such as Iran and Syria, and sub-state actors like Hezbollah and Hamas.  Though too often a shared sense of humanity is not enough to assuage conflict, the prospect of mutually beneficial cooperation can avert disaster.  The idea quickly dawning on the US government and, in some ways, the Middle East, is that my interests can best be served by protecting our interests.