Category Archives: Iran
Palestinians Restore Middle East Conventional Wisdom
Conventional wisdom said there could be no peace in the Middle East until there’s peace with the Palestinians. The Trump Administration did an end run around conventional wisdom and brought peace by signing the Abraham Accords . However, Iranian proxy Hamas had other ideas and fired over 3,300 rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from Gaza.
Trump Made his Move
“Mr. Trump has often seemed a president playing checkers while America’s adversaries play chess. He is not given to nuanced strategic concepts or long-range plans.” That’s how WSJ’s Holman Jenkins sees it.
But this time maybe he was a little nuanced, not responding while the Iranians made their moves. Or maybe he was napping, since he only sleeps four hour a night. Anyway, Iran’s proxies moved on oil tankers, bombed oil fields and shot down a U.S. drone. And Trump did nothing. Until they fired rockets at an American base, killing a contractor, and set fire to the American Embassy. Then Trump made his move, executing the evil genius General Soleimani Rocket Man style with a missile.
Long Range Plans
And now it’s not just all Death to America anymore. “His demise will not stop his mission,” said Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, “But the criminals who have the blood of General Soleimani and other martyrs of the attack on their hands must await a tough revenge.”
American Credibility Erosion
President Obama accused President Trump of eroding American credibility by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. But his views on eroding credibility must have evolved.
American Credibility
In 2009 Obama wanted to reset relations with Russia. So he pulled out of Bush’s missile defense deal with Poland and the Czech Republic.
Death to Khamenei
In a WSJ op-ed, Mark Duowitz and Ray Takeyh describe the current uprising in Iran. They say it differs from the Green Revolution which was about election fraud. This one began “over economic grievances and quickly transformed into a rejection of theocracy.”
The protesters are angry that $100 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen by the Obama administration haven’t trickled down to the people. Instead the money has gone to support militias in the Middle East and energy and weapons for Bashar Assad in Syria.
Death Threats
So, instead of chanting “Death to America” they now shout “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to Rouhani!”
The White House narrative on Iran has changed too. The Trump administration is supporting the protesters and ignoring the “moderate leadership.”
Obama Turns Over National Security Apparatus Keys
The Daily Beast is alarmed by the massive national security apparatus The President is turning over to The Donald. It kills by drone and fights wars without congressional approval.
Whenever George W. Bush started a war he made sure to to pack a Congressional resolution. President Obama, not so much.
Obama ended “torture” of enemy combatants. Instead he blows them up by drone. Even American citizens make the hit list.
He also engineered a nuke treaty with Iran without Senate approval. He simply deemed it not a treaty.
Now all that power is in the tiny hands of President-elect Trump.
National Security Apparatus
Here’s Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:
“Many Americans were willing to invest broad power in the presidency because they trusted the president. But obviously the powers that we invest outlast any particular president, and now those powers are available to Trump.”
Oh.
