With the discord in the Middle East and North Africa seemingly reaching a fever-pitch, Arab leaders are stepping up efforts to take some control back.
At the Arab League Summit in the Egyptian town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the creation of a "joint Arab military force" to counter the various extremist movements in the region .
While constructing a unified military coalition will take time, it could prove to be a critical step in combating such threats as ISIS and the sectarian violence in Yemen.
Yet while Arab efforts point to a renewed commitment to a focused mission, America's strategy in the region has taken on a more haphazard tone.
In Iraq, U.S. airstrikes against ISIS-held Tikrit suggest a tacit (if not more) cooperation with Shiite militias, many of them backed by Iran . Yet in Yemen, U.S. intelligence support is aiding Saudi Arabian airstrikes--against Shiite militias, many of them backed by Iran .
And, oh yeah... there's still the whole nuclear-negotiation-with-Iran-thing going on .
If only U.S. policy towards the region could always be this straightforward.