On the basis of public announcementsmade during the campaign and of what President Obama’s advisers and supporters have written, the President’s options should not totally oppose the political choices made by the previous government. However, there should be a change in the way America deals with the problems in the “arch of crisis”: Iran, Syria, the Palestinian-Israeli question and Afghanistan. It is precisely on the last two points that the statementsmade by President Obama are so far unclear and almost contradictory.