RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/stop-negotiating-with-wolves/

Last week an event took place that illustrates the folly of negotiating with passionate ideologues and autocrats with whom there is no common ground for a meeting of the minds necessary for a true agreement. This practical wisdom, based on human experience going back 28 centuries to Homer, has been forgotten by most modern Western leaders and foreign policy hands, who believe that negotiations, non-lethal “engagement,” and persuasion can override an autocratic adversary’s passionate interests and ambitions that by nature conflict with our own.

The occasion was a three-day, humiliating meeting that our Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, attended in China. As Gatestone Institute’s Gordon Chang reported, “China, literally and figuratively, did not roll out the red carpet for [Blinken’s] arrival in Shanghai on Wednesday. Only a low-level official was on hand to greet Blinken as he stepped off the plane.”

Charles Burton of the Sinopsis think-tank told Gatestone, “Aside from a calculated insult to the dignity of the United States, the move indicates Xi Jinping is making clear that the accepted norms of diplomacy will not be respected by China anymore.”

So much for the “rules-based new world order” that the West thinks the Rest actually follow rather than engage tactically. But that assumption is a delusion, as Beijing has demonstrated even since George W. Bush welcomed China to the World Trade Organization in 2001, whose protocols and rules China has serially violated and gamed. And why shouldn’t it? What have been the material consequences for doing so? Or for ignoring contemptuously our diplomatic statements of  “concern,” or other finger-wagging scoldings?

For example, one of Blinken’s tasks, Matt Pottinger writes in the Journal, during his visit was to repeat Joe Biden’s warning to China two years ago not to provide Russia with materiel and resources to support its war in Ukraine. Biden had also claimed that if Xi continued to do so, “he made sure the Chinese president understood he would ‘be putting himself in significant jeopardy’ and risking China’s economic ties with the U.S. and Europe if he materially supported Russia’s war.”

Of course, nothing significant followed Biden’s stern but empty warning.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/saving-hamas

Reports are circulating that the Israelis are planning an operation in Rafah to eliminate the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza. If so, the Netanyahu government will be acting against the very public wishes of the Biden administration, which has spent the last half year moving heaven and earth to save a terrorist organization from destruction. Bizarrely, the White House’s statements and actions show that Hamas’ survival is more important than the security of a traditional American partner, Israel; more crucial to American interests than the preservation of the U.S.-led order of the Middle East; more precious than the dozens of American lives that Hamas ended on Oct. 7; more valuable than however many Americans and Israelis are still alive in the terror army’s tunnels.

Why? As the money and prestige that the U.S. has invested month after month in protecting Hamas demonstrate, the Biden administration sees the terror group as a valuable asset.

A day after the massacre, before Israel’s campaign against Hamas even began, Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote that he was encouraging the Turkish government’s “advocacy for a cease-fire.” It makes no difference that the tweet has since been deleted, since the White House has produced no shortage of evidence since that its top priority is to deter Israel from defeating Hamas, by increasing Israel’s vulnerabilities at every turn, and conditioning aid on Israel adopting a purely defensive posture.

The Biden administration has stopped Israel from entering Rafah by demanding it produce plans to protect the civilian population, piously insisting that “even one civilian death is too many.” That would be a hard task in any military scenario, but given that Hamas hides among noncombatants, the White House’s policy openly reinforces the terror group’s political and military strategy.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/bidens-paper-tiger/

Mao used to call America a “paper tiger,”  in appearance very powerful, but in reality nothing to be afraid of. That is the way China’s current president, Xi Jinping, views the Biden administration.

How do I know this? Just look at the way the Chinese “welcome” visiting Biden administration officials.

When Secretary of State Tony Blinken arrived in Shanghai last Wednesday, he climbed down from that big beautiful aircraft with “United States of America” emblazoned in huge letters across its sides to the bare tarmac, where minor Chinese officials were waiting to greet him. Not the foreign minister. And no red carpet. That is the Chinese version of a snub.

And Chinese commentators took notice. “Blinken arrives in China and is met WITHOUT RED CARPET. No band or anything,” said an X user with the name “Lord Bedo. “He’s welcomed like a somebody unimportant.” No kidding. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen received the same treatment a few months ago.

On Friday, Blinken met with President Xi in Beijing. His message? To express “serious concern” about China’s support for Russia’s war effort by selling them microchips, machine tools, and other dual-use equipment. “I told Xi, if China does not address this problem, we will,” Blinken told his American media pool.

While that may sound like tough language, what does it really mean? The U.S. will impose sanctions on China if they don’t stop those dual-use exports to Russia. Really?

Russia and China, like their ally, Iran, have become masters at avoiding U.S. sanctions. Following U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and gas over the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s oil and gas exports have continued non-stop, and with increased prices, are earning them more than ever.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20584/open-letter

In the end, because of Israel’s robust defense technology, Iran’s recent drone and ballistic missile attack on Israel’s urban centers was little more than a potentially deadly fireworks show, reportedly choreographed by the United States, in coordination with Iran, “so that no one will be hurt and war with Israel will be avoided” — apparently not with Israel. Make no mistake, though. Iran is capable and willing to engage in a far more strategic display of power in the Middle East.

American and British military assets were also in play, blunting the Iranian missile offensive and demonstrating solidarity with our ally at a time when self-described “progressive” forces here and around the world have been siding with the terrorist group Hamas, and seeking to delegitimize the State of Israel. These ostensibly pro-Palestinian collaborators – it sounds better than “supporting Hamas terrorists” even if it does nothing to help Palestinians rid themselves of their corrupt leaders or have a better life — were either mute or quietly celebratory after the October 7th Hamas attack that massacred, raped and desecrated Israelis. What they, and one suspects Hamas, did not quite anticipate was an Israeli response that reminded the world that the days of Jews suffering in silence from organized murder are over.

Much the way German civilians in the ruins of the Third Reich began to realize that Hitler may not have been such a good thing, there seem to be many Palestinians, who may even have voted for Hamas, with its agenda of eliminating Israel from the map, but are now having second thoughts (here, here, here, here and here).

Hamas, however, is little more than a tool of the Iranians, who have made no pretense about seeking to dominate the Middle East as their seemingly presumed historic right. While the drone attacks were evidently a deliberate sky show, the Iranians are perfectly capable of blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz, as they have already threatened. As a reminder, the Strait provides the only viable sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is considered among the world’s most strategically important waterways for international commerce. Iran could, for instance, place mines in these waters and let their allies, the Houthis, take the fall.

https://amgreatness.com/2024/04/18/the-american-peace-initiative-lessons-learned-from-the-abraham-accords/

Based on interviews of Ambassador Robert O’Brien, Ambassador John Rakolta Jr., Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba (UAE), Robert Greenway, Alan Clemmons, and Aryeh Lightstone.

The authors’ views are theirs alone and do not represent the United States Government or any other institution

The United States has its own Middle East peace initiative. While the Israeli-Palestinian 1993 Oslo Accords and the regional 2002 Arab Peace Initiative were cultivated outside the United States, the 2020 Peace to Prosperity plan and the Abraham Accords were born in the USA.1

The Abraham Accords, centered on regional peace and prosperity, were the 2020 agreements that brought the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kosovo into normalized relations with Israel. They were an aggressive pursuit of American strategic and security interests that capitalized on emerging dynamics in the Middle East. The intent of the Accords was to strengthen stability and deter Iranian, Chinese, and Russian attempts to extend influence or hegemony in the region. Expanding the Accords further secures a part of the world long synonymous with conflict.

The following lessons learned are based on interviews of those who paved the way for the Abraham Accords. We call upon leaders and lawmakers to support us in creating a digital archive to document guiding principles and lessons learned in the process. We believe this model can be replicated for other Muslim-majority countries through courageous, practical diplomacy.

There were certain dynamics that highlighted the benefits of the Abraham Accords process. For example, Israel, as a trade partner, has so many quality of life benefits to offer, including sectors such as water, technology, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, health sciences, and defense. In short, it would be regressive not to normalize with Israel.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/dont-or-ten-ways-to-guarantee-a-theater-wide-war/

On the eve of the October 7 massacres, National Security Advisor bragged in an essay that his Mideast portfolio was “quieter than it has been for decades”. Now we are on the verge of a multifront Middle East war. How did Joe Biden inherit a decades-long regional calm and turn it into a precursor to a gargantuan war?

[1] Talk loudly and carry a twig. Issue hollow Obama-like “redlines” or serial Biden threats to aggressive enemies like the vapid “Don’t!” Witness a U.S. President who works a 3-day week, struggles to read a teleprompter, and shouts more at conservative Americans than at America’s enemies.

[2] Destroy hard-won deterrence. Abruptly pull out of Afghanistan. Abandon $50 billion in weapons to terrorists. Abandon a new $1 billion embassy. Abandon a $300 refitted air base. Abandon thousands of NATO allies, thousands of U.S. contractors, and thousands of Afghan allies. Lose 13 Marines in a horrific scramble to get out, while killing collateral Afghan civilians in a supposedly “righteous strike”. Call the entire American humiliation an impressive withdrawal.

[3] Sit passively while a Chinese spy balloon traverses the continental U.S. Shoot it down only after days of escalating public outrage. Be afraid to call the Chinese out for the Wuhan-lab-generated, gain-of-function Covid-19 virus. Let Chinese diplomats dress down our silent and stunned secretary of state and national security advisor on American soil in Anchorage.

[4] Assure Vladimir Putin that the U.S. reaction to a preemptive invasion of Ukraine would hinge on whether it was a major or “minor” invasion. Delay $100 million in military aid to Ukraine as Putin massed on Ukraine’s borders in hopes such forbearance would be reciprocated. Implore Putin to be more selective in his cyber targeting of U.S. infrastructure and institutions.

[5] Coddle terrorist Iran. Seem eager to resume the Iran Deal. Lift sanctions. Allow $100 billion in oil profits to flow into Iranian coffers. Restore aid to the terrorist Palestinian authority and Hamas. Ignore Hezbollah’s terrorism. Remove the terrorist designation of the Houthis. Mostly ignore over 120 Iranian attacks on American installations. Transfer suspended funds to Iran at the rate of $1.2 billion for each American hostage it took.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/iran-attacks-israel-with-assurances-from-biden/

I was wrong.

I believed the Iranians would not attack Israel directly as they had been threatening, because such an attack would green-light an Israeli response on the Iranian homeland that would be devastating for the Islamic regime.

I reasoned that the extraordinary coordination among U.S. and Israeli officials late last week signaled a potential joint U.S.-Israeli counterstrike should Iran’s leaders be so reckless as to attack Israel.

The commander of U.S. Central Command General, Eric Kurilla, visited Israel on Thursday, just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was putting in a public appearance at Tel Nor Air Force base to give a pep talk to Israel F-15 pilots. Also last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held two videonconferences with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and the Pentagon moved the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its carrier task force closer to Israel from its current duty station further down the Red Sea to better defend the Jewish state.

Despite Iran’s ongoing threats that it would “punish” Israel for its alleged role in bombing the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, where Quds Force war-planning meetings were underway, I believed that even attacks by Iranian proxies in Iraq against Israel would be seen by Israel as a direct Iranian attack. Therefore I was confident that any direct Iranian attack on Israel would greenlight Israel to strike Iran.

I said that publicly last week. A few days later, Israeli minister without portfolio, Benny Ganz, said it on Israeli TV. (In case you missed it, Benny Ganz is the “moderate” Israeli politician Biden & Co. are trying to maneuver into position to replace Bibi.)

Both of us were wrong.