It’s Wednesday and I was going to write a column on how bad customer service has become since before the Pandemic started but after reading about the Iranian plot to kidnap an Iran-American journalist I changed my mind.
Historically, when Democrats are in power, we generally have a fairly poor track record when it comes to International issues. The Russians know this, the Chinese know this and the Iranians certainly know this. The belief is, or has been, that Republicans are strong on defense and International situations and Democrats generally do better with domestic problems.
I have to say that initially I thought it would be more of the same but these past few months I think I will rethink that a little. The Biden administration has thoroughly messed up the border situation and up until yesterday, couldn’t get out of it’s own way as far as the various spending bills it has thrown out there. The administration has also been fighting the fight for voter rights which might not end in the Presidents favor. So, this administration while seemingly acting with purpose, has pretty much mangled domestic policy but surprisingly, they did get a very unusual win this past week.
We all know the Russians would rather spend billions of dollars on developing a very sophisticated military apparatus than making sure their economy is strong and prosperous. We all know they sanction, directly or indirectly, a whole industry of cyber hackers and other miscreants for the purpose of disrupting the US economy. These terrorists have done an excellent job of extracting payments from small to mid sized US companies and this looked like a war we were not going to win. Until…
President Biden actually showed some backbone and told Vladimere Putin that he needed to get his minions under control or he would not like to see the response. Good for him. Strong words, finally. Putin, never backs down from anyone and yet some of the bad actors in this play shut down quietly, with no explanation. Did Vlad send a message down the line about this? Did the US’s counter hackers find these criminals? We probably won’t know for a while but I think that Putin knew the US had the resources and the will to inflict similar damage on the Russian ecosystem and he would look worse to his people if it looked like the US was retaliating with a taste of their own medicine. Better to quietly walk away than to fight someone who you know in the end will knock you out. Not typical of the Russian leader but there it is.
The next challenge for the administration is dealing with the alleged plan to abduct a US citizen, Masih Alinejad, on US soil by the Iranian representatives. The FBI foiled this plot and uncovered a very sophisticated surveillance of Ms. Alinejad that has been going onfor months. The first part of this scenario has played out. The breaking up and arresting of the parties involved (one person has been arrested and there is a nationwide search for the others). The second part is more about diplomacy and how the US should use its strength and take the Iranians to task for this plot. This was not sanctioned by some Mullah in some small town in Western Iran, it was sanctioned by the leaders and they should be held accountable.
Iran is not our friend. They never were and never will be. They are lead by clerics that want to see the destruction of Israel first and then the West. They will sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Iranian lives to reach these goals. They lie, divert the truth and lie again. They are not to be trusted and we need to make them know that we are not buying there lies. This is where I believe the Trump administration had it 100% right. He felt they were disengenious at every turn and their nuclear ambitions were not of the defensive nature. They were on the course to develop nuclear weapons and at some point, you have to believe they would be turned on Israel. The Trump sanctions had a disastrous effect on the Iranian economy and the citizens were none to happy. The continued course most likely would have caused massive civil unrest and the clerics in charge may not have survived that. It’s all conjecture because the new administration has shown a willingness to negotiate and that has given the regime renewed strength.
Now is the time for us to act as far as the Iranians are concerned and I think it will send a simple message to all the other bad actors out there that we still have the will to act and to react when needed. These are bad people and bad people generally do not understand or respect negotiation. I am not advocating anything as costly as a military option but there are ways that the United States can send a message that this type of thing will never be tolerated and just do it. This will be a good test of the resolve of the Biden Administration and maybe change a few minds in the process.
Very Good and precise appraisal, I also am surprised by this administration this past week.