The High Price of Indulging Bad Clients

The “bear hug” usually isn’t a prelude to restraining the client, because there was never any real interest in restraining the client in the first place.

Stephen Wertheim assesses the effectiveness of Biden’s “bear hug” approach with Israel:

Bear-hugging America’s ally, he apparently figured, was the surest way to restrain it — or the only way he was willing to try.

Yet that gambit has failed.

Tightly embracing a client or partner is the default Washington response. It doesn’t seem to matter what the situation is, who is leading the other government, or how much U.S. interests and the other state’s interests diverge. The rhetoric and actions are usually the same, and the emphasis is on demonstrating how deeply and permanently bound together the U.S. and its client are. The “bear hug” usually isn’t a prelude to restraining the client, because there was never any real interest in restraining the client in the first place.

If preventing a client from behaving recklessly or criminally were the priority, the approach and the entire relationship would be very different. Washington is obsessed with reassuring its clients that the U.S. is backing them all the way. One administration after another fixates on offering these reassurances, and presidents of different parties try to outcompete each other in how many favors they can do for the client.