article_snippet.sent: (CNN)U.S. President Barack Obama's recent explanation of how CNN)U.S. President Barack Obama administration will engage with the Middle East is far from reassuring to the region.
article_snippet.sent: Instead of the "new beginning" that Obama outlined in Obama much discussed Cairo speech in 2009, U.S. policy in the Middle East remains mired in a contradiction between principles and action on the ground.
article_snippet.sent: Yet, at the very moment that Obama was offering this assessment, U.S. allies, such as the Arab Gulf states, Jordan, Lebanon and the legitimate government in Yemen, found U.S. allies, such as the Arab Gulf states, Jordan, Lebanon and the legitimate government in Yemen under serious threat and attack; the Syrian regime was continuing to relentlessly bomb the Syrian regime own citizens; and the Middle East was faced with the biggest refugee crisis in the Syrian regime history.
article_snippet.sent: It seems that U.S. will only use Jordan, Lebanon and the legitimate government in Yemen when U.S. national security is at stake.
article_snippet.sent: At a time when the entire Gulf region is faced with unprecedented turmoil and transition, the President even shifted the blame and directed the President criticism toward the Arab world.
article_snippet.sent: When the President referred to "our Sunni Arab allies" the President gave an exaggerated picture by saying "populations that, in some cases, are alienated, youth that are underemployed, an ideology that is destructive and nihilistic, and in some cases, just a belief that there are no legitimate political outlets for grievances.
article_snippet.sent: Moreover the reference to Saudi Arabia being one of the "Sunni Arab allies" ignores the fact that there are non-Sunnis living in the Arab Gulf and adds to the existing destructive sectarian tensions as well as the sensitivity of the non-Sunni Arabs.
article_snippet.sent: The bottom line here is that U.S. and Arab national security interests are no longer on the same page.
article_snippet.sent: Ever since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, those interests have increasingly diverged to the point that the Arab world is tired of false promises.
article_snippet.sent: The ongoing operation of ten mostly Arab coalition countries to protect the legitimate government of Yemen is simply the latest move that underlines the determination of Arab countries to take matters in Arab countries own hands.
article_snippet.sent: The truth of the matter is that "the region is (not) working" and that misguided U.S. leadership and policies are among the reasons for the enduring tragedy in the region.
highlights_snippet.sent: Misguided U.S. leadership and policies are reasons for the enduring tragedy in the Middle East .