So much for the pivot to Asia

Our focus on joining the war in the Middle East has effectively derailed the so-called pivot or rebalance to Asia. We should be focussed more on our own immediate region, writes John Blaxland. This was supposed to be the Asian century, but the Middle East's shenanigans have once again consumed our attention, with the West responding with little understanding of the ramifications - like a red rag to a bull. After the 200,000 or so estimated deaths in Syria in the last few years of conflict failed to crystallise a response, all it took was two American journalists and a British aid worker to be beheaded for the West, led by the US, to be goaded back into the fray.