So apparently, not content with sticking it to the Russians anymore, Joe Biden is escalating tensions against even more enemies. First, he is sending arms to Taiwan, which China views as sovereign territory, and daring them to invade. There is always a threat that North Korea’s missile tests will flare into open warfare. The battle in Ukraine rages on, with both sides thinking they are winning.
Now, egged on by Israel and Saudi Arabia, Joe Biden says that the US is prepared to “use all elements of its national power” to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Yes, the same Saudi regime that chops peoples’ heads off like ISIS did, and which invades neighbors it doesn’t like, like Putin does. Yes, the same regime which produced 15 of the 19 hijackers who were involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Even if none of Iran, Russia, China, or North Korea were nuclear armed powers, this would be a drastic overextension of US power. Israel is a nuclear power. If Iran is such a clear and present danger, then let Israel launch an attack on Iran and dismantle its nuclear program. The fact is that we simply can’t afford to get involved in a two front war, let alone the four front war that Joe Biden is sleepwalking us into.
And this is a simple matter of right and wrong. Mr. Biden had an opportunity to rectify his predecessor’s sabotage of the Iran Deal, one of the best achievements of the Obama Administration. But the fact that he is escalating tensions with Iran means that Mr. Biden is a lot more like Donald Trump than he cares to admit. The only things missing are the mean tweets and the mobs willing to storm the Capitol if they don’t get their way. Keeping one’s word is essential in politics or any other profession. No wonder relations between the US and countries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, none of which we can afford a war with, are deteriorating. And no wonder nobody likes Mr. Biden.
Chris Hedges, a former Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize winner, notes that if war were to break out between the US and Iran, 2 million Shiites throughout the Middle East would join the war against the US. Iran would use its missiles to shut down the Straight of Hormuz, which is the corridor for 20% of the world’s oil, driving up oil prices to $500 to $750 a barrel, meaning gas prices could go up to as high as $20 a gallon.
And Mr. Hedges notes that the US would have a hard time winning a war against Iran alone, let alone three other powers like Russia, China, and North Korea. In 2002, the US spent $250 million to simulate a war with Iran, in which kamikaze attacks destroyed 16 US warships in under 20 minutes. They tried to change the rules so that Iran couldn’t shoot down our aircraft, while the US had access to some weapons that don’t exist, such as airborne laser weapons. The last military commander who played around with divisions and weapons that didn’t exist was named Adolf Hitler in the last days of his Third Reich. Despite their “wonder weapons,” the US still couldn’t win thanks to the guerilla tactics of the Iranians.
And none of these exercises took into account what would happen in a two front war, let alone a four front war. And they also didn’t take into account the fact that Iran has one of the biggest drone fleets in the world.
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