Re-Orienting America
After the Cold War ended, the US became preoccupied with Europe, and then, after the 9/11 attacks, shifted its focus to the Middle East. Now US foreign policy is beginning to catch up to the importance of the Asia-Pacific region – and not a moment too soon.
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NEW YORK – Some 40 years ago, when I entered Oxford University as a graduate student, I declared my interest in the Middle East. I was told that this part of the world came under the rubric of “Oriental Studies,” and that I would be assigned an appropriate professor. But when I arrived for my first meeting at the professor’s office, his bookshelves were lined with volumes bearing Chinese characters. He was a specialist in what was, at least for me at the time, the wrong Orient.