In June 2011, President Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates, addressing the Security and Defense Agenda, a Brussels policy center, bluntly criticized NATO nations, for what he insisted was their failure to fulfill their commitments to increase defense spending and…

Middle Easterners first had to deal with an American president who employed military power in the region, trying to advance “regime change” and “nation building.” Then came a president who was hoping to reduce military intervention in that part of…