RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/05/01/why_america_changed_its_war_aims_in_ukraine_147543.html

Slowly, slowly, the United States has expanded its war aims in Ukraine and significantly altered its pipeline of military supplies. Those two changes are mutually reinforcing. The U.S. is finally sending Ukraine the heavy weapons it needs because the Biden administration has finally decided it actually wants Ukraine to win and the Russian army to suffer losses so drastic it will not threaten other Western countries.

Highlighting these changes is not meant to downplay the support America has already given Ukraine. Biden’s team has done a lot. Not nearly as much as Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted, but a lot. Biden and his administration forged a coalition of NATO partners, provided Ukraine real-time intelligence about Russian forces, and shipped huge quantities of light weapons and ammunition. Those supplies were critical in protecting Kyiv.

Still, the U.S. and its NATO partners could have done much more. They did too little to deter an invasion when they could have prepared for it by training and equipping Ukrainian forces on NATO-standard equipment. As the invasion loomed, they delayed sending military equipment because the CIA predicted that Russia would win quickly and capture those supplies. After Ukraine fended off the Russian attack on Kyiv, the U.S. rejected Zelenskyy’s urgent requests for heavy weapons, including artillery, long-range drones, cruise missiles, planes, and anti-aircraft batteries. (It is still wisely refusing to insert Western troops and airpower into combat, fearing that could provoke a wider conflict with Russia.) Nor had the U.S. endorsed Ukraine’s principal war aim: to defeat Russia and recover as much territory as possible. All that changed over the past week. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin went even further. In a dramatic announcement, he said the U.S. wanted to weaken Russia.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18479/giving-carrots-to-iran-will-not-alter-its-brutal

“The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps … will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of jihad in God’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God’s law throughout the world.” – Constitution, Islamic Republic of Iran

“We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle.” — Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, 1981

“We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.” –Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, The Economist, November 20, 2007

Does anyone seriously think that having a bomb and billions of dollars will make the mullahs less aggressive?

It is time for the Biden administration and the European Union to see that, as with Putin’s Russia, no amount of appeasement or concessions is going to pressure the Iranian regime – called by the US State Department itself “The world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism — to change its ruthless, expansionist program for the better.

The Biden administration and the European Union continue to appease the ruling mullahs of Iran while ignoring the regime’s threats to annihilate Israel. Do they really believe that appeasing the Islamic Republic will lead to a positive change within the regime? Or do they secretly hope that Iran will do them a favor and finally, to paraphrase King Henry II, rid them of this troublesome country?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18452/help-terrorist-iran-bomb

Why would any administration in its right mind permit an official state sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to have nuclear weapons, as well as billions of dollars that will assuredly not be used for a “GI Bill for returning members of the Revolutionary Guard”?

Just this week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Iran, a “sponsor of terrorism.”

With Biden’s deal, restrictions on the regime’s nuclear program would be lifted only two years after the agreement is signed, permitting the regime to enrich uranium at any level it desires and spin as many uranium enrichment centrifuges as it wants.

Astonishingly, Russia will be trusted to be the country that stores Iran’s enriched uranium, and Moscow will get paid for this mission. More uranium for Russia? How nifty: maybe Putin can use it for his next “Ukraine” — in Poland, Sweden or France?

The new deal will not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, meaning that the Tehran regime will continue attacking other nations with its ballistic missiles, provide missiles to its proxy militias in other countries, and advance the range of its intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach the US territories. Iran could even use shorter-range ballistic missiles to reach the US, perhaps launched from Venezuela or Cuba, where Iran is already deeply entrenched.

To meet the Iranian leaders’ demands, the new deal will most likely include removal from the terrorist list of the IRGC, which has killed countless Americans, both on American soil and off.

The Islamic Republic of Iran began murdering Americans in Beirut in 1983, and also had a hand in the 9/11 attacks.

The Biden administration, if it actually cares about peace in the region — a subject that seems open to question — would do well to listen to the warnings of these many US military leaders and Congressmen, and refuse to revive the disastrous nuclear deal. It will only a make even more dangerous a country that the US State Department itself has called “the world’s worst sponsor of state terrorism,” as well as frankly creating an unnecessary security threat in the region, Europe and the US.

Why would any administration in its right mind permit an official state sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to have nuclear weapons, as well as billions of dollars that will assuredly not be used for a “GI Bill for returning members of the Revolutionary Guard”?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18463/china-or-the-usa

The new agreement with Iran, then, is based on an imaginary assistance from Russia and China, when all three countries are committed to unseating America as the world’s leading superpower and evading US sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The US, in short, is sacrificing significant progress in the Middle East to help the three greatest threats to America’s international safety and security: these brutal and authoritarian regimes, China, Russia and Iran.

The actions of the past 18 months demonstrate the key challenges of American foreign policy — policies that swing back and forth from one administration to the next, creating a total lack of consistency. Secondly, they highlight the fact that one administration seems unwilling to accept or learn from the previous administration.

America will continue to see its international role diminish if foreign policy continues to resemble a roller coaster, changing direction every four to eight years, based more on political, partisan whims than an actual results-oriented approach. This is how China conducts its foreign policy: on the back of such American unreliability.

We must stay loyal to our allies such as the UAE for the long-term for them to see the US as a reliable ally, so that they and other countries can risk taking the courageous, groundbreaking steps that they have been implementing over the last few years.

Two recent reports highlight a disturbing trend in the global power dynamic. They are not receiving much attention because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, but China is exploiting this out-of-the-spotlight moment to work smartly at increasing its influence within the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the US is squandering this moment by trying to negotiate a renewed Iran nuclear deal with Russia’s assistance.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18435/us-arm-taiwan

Whether or not China plans to invade Taiwan now, it is time for the United States to ditch decades of misguided policy. Among other things, Washington should, on an emergency basis, begin arming the island with the weapons it urgently needs.
Unfortunately, Xi Jinping, the extraordinarily ambitious and bold Chinese ruler, may feel encouraged by recent events in Eastern Europe. As Wang Dan, a Tiananmen Square-era student leader, wrote late last month, “We should not expect rational decision-making from dictators and totalitarian regimes.”
Moreover, the sanctions placed on Moscow after the invasion were not comprehensive, and they are, incredibly, still not comprehensive. Xi, therefore, could believe that no nation would dare impose meaningful costs on his magnificent state.
China’s leaders give the impression they have been emboldened by recent events… “It cannot win a war anymore.” — Global Times, Chinese newspaper, referring to America, August 16, 2021.
[N]owhere is deterrence now more important than in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan, after the fall of Afghanistan and invasion of Ukraine, is considered around the world as the test of American credibility.
To prevent a Chinese invasion, President Biden should publicly declare that America will defend Taiwan. In addition, the U.S. should work with allies Japan and Australia and offer a multilateral defense treaty to Taipei.
Moreover, as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo proposed last month while visiting Taipei, the U.S. should recognize Taiwan for what it is: a sovereign state.
To make sure the resolution of Taiwan’s status is peaceful, the Biden administration should start shipping weapons to Taiwan, especially long-range missiles that can hold China’s regime hostage.
Moreover, America and friends, to back up their words, should base forces on the island.
Deterrence is the best guarantee of peace.
The United States did not send sufficient weapons to Ukraine before the February 24 invasion, thereby failing to maintain deterrence in Eastern Europe.
By openly bolstering Taiwan’s defenses, Washington would be declaring that America was no longer afraid of offending Beijing. That is transmitting the “right signal” for Chinese leaders to ponder.

“Wrong signals.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/dozens-of-former-u-s-generals-and-admirals-warn-against-iran-nuclear-deal-letter/

Close to 50 retired military officers wrote that the new nuclear agreement the Biden administration is negotiating with Iran is likely to “instantly fuel explosive Iranian aggression,” in an open letter last week.

In the letter, coordinated with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, the group of generals and admirals said that the deal would help Iran’s nuclear program and support of terrorism, and linked the nuclear talks in Vienna to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. negotiators have worked through intermediary countries in the Austrian capital to hammer out an agreement to reverse President Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord.

Although the two sides have repeatedly said that they are close to inking a final agreement, the U.S. seems to have balked at Iranian demands that the White House remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization sanctions list. The talks have remained stalled for weeks, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he’s “not overly optimistic” that the U.S. and Iran can reach a final agreement.

Meanwhile, around 20 Democratic lawmakers have criticized the negotiations and the concessions which the administration is reportedly mulling, while Republicans have prepared a range of legislative options with which to torpedo the potential agreement.

While the administration has not ruled out the IRGC delisting, which would be an extraordinary capitulation to Tehran’s demands, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius reported that a senior administration official told him that “President Biden doesn’t intend to concede on the terrorist designation.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18426/iran-and-america-plans-to-fund-russia-war-in

Iran’s efforts to conclude a revised nuclear deal with the Biden administration could result in the Kremlin receiving a windfall of half-a-billion dollars to fund its war effort against Ukraine.

To boost its economy, Russia is now demanding that Iran pay in cash for the deals currently under discussion, as well as repaying outstanding debts believed to be worth more than half a billion dollars in cash owed for Russia’s work on the Bushehr facility.

“Iran has promised Russia that it will pay its debt once Iranian funds held in the US are no longer under sanctions and become available for use,” a senior Western security official told me this week. “Furthermore, Iran has made transferring down payments to Russia for the purpose of implementing the military agreements between the parties conditional on reaching an agreement in Vienna.”

Apart from offering to help the Kremlin evade sanctions, Iran is also believed to be working to engage China and enlist its assistance as well for the purpose of bypassing Western sanctions.

Despite denials by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA confirming that there has been coordination between the parties for the purpose of bypassing Western sanctions.

Western security officials are concerned that any funds Iran sends to Moscow will be used to help fund Mr Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. There have already been reports of Iran providing weapons to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, and Moscow is desperate to find new ways of supporting its economy so that it can maintain its military offensive.

The fact that Iran is actively seeking to provide Moscow with financial assistance which could be used to fund the war in Ukraine is deeply embarrassing for the Biden administration, which still shows no sign of ending its efforts to revive the nuclear deal.

Certainly, if the deal does go ahead, enabling Iran to pay off its debts to Moscow, then the Biden administration could find itself accused of having the blood of innocent Ukrainian civilians on its hands for allowing Iran to fund the Kremlin’s war effort.

Iran’s efforts to conclude a revised nuclear deal with the Biden administration could result in the Kremlin receiving a windfall of half-a-billion dollars to fund its war effort against Ukraine.

That is the conclusion reached by Western security officials who are becoming increasingly concerned about the discussions taking place between Moscow and Tehran about deepening their cooperation once the nuclear deal has been signed.