- The Media Line - https://themedialine.org -

Biden’s State of the Union Leaves Out the Middle East

US President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address was predictably dominated by the Russo-Ukrainian War, but what was truly remarkable was what it didn’t include: The region’s issues and concerns were completely absent from Biden’s speech. He didn’t refer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nor did he mention the talks in Vienna on Iran’s nuclear deal. He didn’t bring up Washington’s perennial complaint of Tehran “meddling” in its neighbor’s internal affairs and didn’t mention the war in Yemen. He also refrained from mentioning the political instability in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Media Line’s Mohammad Al-Kassim speaks to experts [1] about the significance of Biden’s omissions for the region and the world.