Exactly, for the umpteenth time

I've been saying this since 2002 when I was in high school:

In international relations, let's for the moment forget the distractions of the Middle East and Iran's nuclear ambitions. The country that really matters to the US and will define the geo-political landscape of the future is China, America's biggest trading partner.  Against this, the Middle East is an irrelevance.

While I fear that President Obama will turn largely to additional domestic overreaching now that health care has passed, one can hope.