Early in his term as Obama’s first secretary of state, John Kerry said something like, “Well, we’re not all fools here you know.” Kerry’s statement was amusing but incorrect. Kerry’s fools brought us Obama’s nuclear weapons deal with Iran and more. Under Biden and Harris, we are beset by the diplomacy of dunces.
We should be congratulating the Israelis for fighting our fight. But, instead, we’re still pressuring them to give in to their enemies.
Vice President Harris wants to do more than double down on that sort of diplomacy. Her platform, from which she has not stepped an inch away, objects to the fact that we’re spending about 13 times as much on defense as diplomacy, and promises to slash defense spending to increase diplomacy and other “urgent” domestic priorities, whatever they are.
The great difference between defense and diplomatic spending reflects their relative values.
Where are we on the diplomacy Harris is so fond of? China’s aggression in the South China Sea is unabated, Russia is committing another 150,000 troops to its war in Ukraine, and too many of our NATO “allies” are once again refusing to invest in their own defense. Germany, in particular, had promised massive new defense spending which hasn’t happened and won’t.
And then there’s the Hamas war on Israel which is approaching its first anniversary, October 7.
Harris said, in an interview with black journalists last week, that the Gaza War has to end soon and a cease-fire deal reached including the release of Hamas’s hostages. Secretary of State Tony Blinken went to Cairo last week and repeated the diplomats’ prayer that a cease-fire would be the best way to stop Middle East violence from spreading.
Blinkey said, “We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to address risks to regional stability.” He is, as usual, comprehensively wrong.
Israel, having been attacked by Hamas, attacked the Gaza Strip in order to destroy Hamas’s ability to repeat the October 7 attack. It hasn’t done so yet, given the fact that Hamas’s chief terrorist, Yayah Sinwar, is still alive and the forces he commands are still fighting.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is primarily caused by Hamas stealing the relief shipments of food and medical supplies.
But never will Hamas hear a discouraging word from Harris or Blinken or our other so-called diplomats.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Israel performed the slickest intel op since Commander Joe Rochefort’s team broke the Japanese codes before the Battle of Midway. Israeli intel operators detonated thousands of Hizballah pagers and, a day later, hundreds of their walkie-talkie radios.
It should come as no surprise that the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was injured when his pager exploded. Iranian control of Hizballah is as old as Hizballah.
So what are the Israelis doing to get their (and our) hostages back? About two weeks ago, they offered Sinwar safe conduct out of Gaza in return for the release of the hostages. That is a huge concession given the fact that Israel, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, have vowed to kill Sinwar.
Just what else do our “diplomats” want the Israelis to do?
Of course, the Israeli offer was turned down. Sinwar is reportedly trying to escape to Tehran and wants to take some of the hostages with him.
Israeli leaders have warned U.S. officials that they may begin a large attack on Lebanon to disable its forces which have been launching hundreds of missiles at Israeli civilians, about 8,000 since October 7. In response our empty suit of a defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, again pushed for a “diplomatic solution” to the problem. Which is far beyond our diplomats’ skills.
Our diplo-dummies are proposing a solution to the Israel-Hizballah war: land swaps. Never mind the fact that Israel doesn’t want an inch of Lebanon and that Hizballah wants all of Israel.
Hizballah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, published an open letter describing its doctrine in 1985 in the Arab newspaper Al Safir. In it, he proclaimed that Hizballah follows the orders of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini (now succeeded by Ayatollah Khamenei). Part of that letter says, “Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.”
Do our so-called diplomats even research the subjects they opine on? Their ignorance of the world and how it works is both tragic and astonishing.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, even U.S. officials have — anonymously of course — said that they don’t believe that any cease-fire deal can be reached between Israel and Hamas until Biden’s presidency ends in January. But, according to the same report, that conclusion won’t stop Biden and Harris (and Blinken and Sullivan, who are really running our foreign policy) from continuing to pressure Israel to reach an agreement.
Israel Kills Enemies of US
Israel, in its airstrikes so far, has managed to kill a number of Hizballah’s top commanders in Lebanon. Included among them was Ibrahim Aqil, who has been wanted by the U.S. for his help in perpetrating the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut which killed 241 Americans, including 220 Marines. We should be congratulating the Israelis for fighting our fight. But, instead, we’re still pressuring them to give in to their enemies.
The diplomacy of dunces will continue at least until both Biden and Harris are out of office. Its “successes” mean an end to the U.S. strategy of deterrence. For Heaven’s sake, we can’t — despite our massive naval presence near the Red Sea — even deter the Houthis from attacking shipping there.
We are no longer an ally that any nation — especially Israel — can count on. The end of American deterrence is a license for Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea to do as they please both regionally and beyond. The “Pax Americana” — the American peace — which has held the world together since World War II is over.
Biden’s weakness will beget Harris’s weakness if she is elected in November. Former president Trump might — and probably would — try to restore our deterrence if he is elected.
A good friend of mine told me about a month ago that he believes we’d survive a Harris presidency. I’m not at all sure that we or our allies can.
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