https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/06/30/in-thrall-to-the-bargain/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 06:14:50 -0400<![CDATA[Spengler, at the Asia Times, tries to trace the outlines of Barack Obama&#8217;s elusive Grand Bargain and doesn&#8217;t think it will work. &#8220;In Obama&#8217;s imagination, a Sunni Arab coalition &#8211; empowered by Washington&#8217;s turn against Israel &#8211; would encircle Iran and dissuade it from acquiring nuclear weapons, while an entirely separate Shi&#8217;ite coalition with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would suppress the radical Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was the worst-designed scheme concocted by a Western strategist since Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery attacked the bridges at Arnhem in 1944, and it has blown up in Obama&#8217;s face.&#8221; Put that way, it does seem unlikely.]]>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:11:56 -0400<![CDATA[Richard Fernandez]]>https://pjmedia.com/richard-fernandez/2009/06/30/in-thrall-to-the-bargain-n188697