Looking for more confirmation that the White House has run out of foreign policy ideas?  Well, look no further: MSNBC is reporting that the new buzzword in Washington foreign policy circles is "containment", but what that means in the real world is anybody's guess.  Whereas it made sense as policy in the post-war bi-polar world of mutually-assured destruction that was the Cold War, in its current usage "containment" seems more an attempt to invoke the purpose, and fear, of the Cold War period for a considerably less dangerous, yet more complicated international environment.  For instance, does drawing all U.S. troops in Iraq into a number of large superbases really "contain" ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq or merely remind one of the ill-fated U.S. Marines sent to Beirut with no mission other than establishing a U.S. presence in the midst of chaos?  Surely, those bases keep Iran in check?  Only if you believe that Iranian tanks are sitting ready on the edge of some Middle Eastern "Fulda Gap" waiting for the word to cross two or three countries to get to Israel...but that would fly in the face of the known fact that Iran's military is considerably weaker than either the U.S. or Israeli armies.  Nope, the Iranians make waves by supporting terrorist groups like Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad.  Missle defense shield over Europe?  Sounds great but twenty years of failed tests and no workable system in the foreseeable future really isn't gonna cut it.  Where were we going with this again?