BIDEN’S MIDDLE EAST POLICY IS A LOT OF SOUND AND FURY SIGNIFYING FAILURE ERIC LEVINE
NO URL ERIC LEVINE IS AN ATTORNEY IN NEW YORK WHO SPEAKS AND WRITES FREQUENTLY ON ISRAEL AND FOREIGN POLICY
Speaking at the Atlantic Festival on September 30, 2023, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan proudly bragged: “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”
Last week – a mere four months later – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ominously proclaimed: “[W]e’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the [Middle East] since at least 1973, and arguably even before that….”
How did we go from the golden age of American diplomacy to the dark ages of war in such short order? The answer is: Nothing has really changed. Unbeknownst to a clueless Administration, we have been in the dark ages of war since Joe Biden took office. His appeasement of Iran has seen to that.
Despite Iran’s funding of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and a vast terrorist network in Syria and Iraq, the Administration remains wedded to the fantasy that with the just the right policy and the right amount of cajoling from the United States, Iran will end its nuclear program and turn into a responsible citizen in the community of nations. AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and their fellow Squad members are more likely to host next year’s Israel Day Parade in New York City.
Part of the Administration’s strategy of modifying Iran’s behavior entails failing to enforce economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic and providing outright gifts of billions of dollars of cash. What could go wrong? When Joe Biden became President, Iran had $4 billion dollars in foreign currency reserves; virtual bankruptcy. As a result of this Administration’s policy of appeasement, Iran now has $70 billion to fund the precise malign behavior Biden claims he is seeking to prevent.
The Administration’s efforts at political alchemy have resulted in a war in Gaza, the closing of commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and over 200 attacks against American service members in the Middle East since October 7, including the murder of three American service members in Jordan by an Iranian drone. The Biden team has not only failed to attack the source of this evil, Tehran, it has gone out of its way to highlight the “efforts” Iran is making to dissuade its terrorist proxies from attacking Americans. It is almost as if the Administration views Iran as a partner in quieting the Middle East rather than as the enemy and the source of instability in the region that it is.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Biden will attempt to reward Iran’s good offices by applying additional pressure to Israel to agree to an ill-advised ceasefire and the creation of a Palestinian state; outcomes only enemies of the United States, like Iran are hoping for.
Biden’s most recent effort to punish those responsible for the death of our service members further demonstrates the delusional thinking of this White House. The Administration took a week to “retaliate” and signaled where and when it would attack. This gave Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the arm of the Iranian government responsible for coordinating terrorist activities in the Middle East – the opportunity to escape the American “onslaught.” There were lots of big explosions. Many empty warehouses were blown up. A few meaningless jihadis were killed. However, the ultimate murderers of our troops were spared. This is a disgrace.
Biden’s token effort at retaliation is little more than a poorly staged play designed to create the illusion of achieving something when, in fact, nothing good is being accomplished.
Macbeth might have been speaking about Joe Biden’s efforts to protect and defend our troops when he declared:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Joe Biden’s hour on the stage may well soon come to an end. Unfortunately, his tale of sound and fury signifies failure.
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