Let's call it by its real name. This is early stage WWIII. Russia, China and Iran are on the move, testing our will and expanding their influence. Iran and its proxies are already in a shooting war with the US. Once the US starts fighting in earnest, Iran will claim the US is fighting in defense of Israel. That will weaken any Arab suppo…
Let's call it by its real name. This is early stage WWIII. Russia, China and Iran are on the move, testing our will and expanding their influence. Iran and its proxies are already in a shooting war with the US. Once the US starts fighting in earnest, Iran will claim the US is fighting in defense of Israel. That will weaken any Arab support for the US and may divide NATO or weaken its will by doing so. The Mullahs are not stupid.
NATO is already in a state of de facto war with Russia. Ukraine supplies the blood, NATO the money and weapons. Russia has expanded its territory and can be said to be winning. Russia uses Iranian weapons. Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy, uses Russian missiles to attack Israel. China supplies the money.
China is expanding and militarizing the South China Sea in preparation for war over Taiwan.
The US government appears feckless. Whenever Biden appears in public, he looks and sounds like an escapee from a dementia ward. The Republican contender is promoting isolationism, which has echoes of the 1930's. Biden may be too timid to respond effectively to the latest Iranian attack. It may be too late to establish deterrence.
What's next? That's what Matti Friedman wrote about. Iran will continue to accelerate its attacks against US interests. Unless the US can establish deterrence quickly, Hezbollah will launch an attack on Israel. The US will have to commit significant resources to aid in Israel's defense and protect other US regional interests. This will create opportunities for Russia to make further gains in Ukraine. It will create an opportunity for China to invade Taiwan.
How it ends will depend entirely on the political will of the US and its allies. To paraphrase Churchill, you can count on the US to do the right thing. But only after it has exhausted every other possibility.
Let's call it by its real name. This is early stage WWIII. Russia, China and Iran are on the move, testing our will and expanding their influence. Iran and its proxies are already in a shooting war with the US. Once the US starts fighting in earnest, Iran will claim the US is fighting in defense of Israel. That will weaken any Arab support for the US and may divide NATO or weaken its will by doing so. The Mullahs are not stupid.
NATO is already in a state of de facto war with Russia. Ukraine supplies the blood, NATO the money and weapons. Russia has expanded its territory and can be said to be winning. Russia uses Iranian weapons. Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy, uses Russian missiles to attack Israel. China supplies the money.
China is expanding and militarizing the South China Sea in preparation for war over Taiwan.
The US government appears feckless. Whenever Biden appears in public, he looks and sounds like an escapee from a dementia ward. The Republican contender is promoting isolationism, which has echoes of the 1930's. Biden may be too timid to respond effectively to the latest Iranian attack. It may be too late to establish deterrence.
What's next? That's what Matti Friedman wrote about. Iran will continue to accelerate its attacks against US interests. Unless the US can establish deterrence quickly, Hezbollah will launch an attack on Israel. The US will have to commit significant resources to aid in Israel's defense and protect other US regional interests. This will create opportunities for Russia to make further gains in Ukraine. It will create an opportunity for China to invade Taiwan.
How it ends will depend entirely on the political will of the US and its allies. To paraphrase Churchill, you can count on the US to do the right thing. But only after it has exhausted every other possibility.