The Full Story Here +++++++++++++++++++++ Dufuss hasn't a clue. He just gets manipulated each day:
Opportunity Beckons in
the Mideast The Biden administration called Iran’s bluff
early. It should continue to play the strong hand it was dealt. By Trump's Son In Law - Jared Kushner The geopolitical
earthquake that began with the Abraham Accords hasn’t ended. More than 130,000
Israelis have visited Dubai since President Trump hosted the peace deal’s
signing this past September, and air travel opened up for the first time in
August. New, friendly relations are flowering—wait until direct flights get
going between Israel and Morocco. We are witnessing the last vestiges of what
has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflict’s roots
stretch back to the years after World War II, when Arab leaders refused to
accept the creation of the state of Israel and spent 70 years vilifying it and
using it to divert attention from domestic shortcomings. But as more Muslims
visit Israel through Dubai, images are populating on social media of Jews and
Muslims proudly standing together. More important, Muslims are posting pictures
of peaceful visits to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, blowing a hole in the propaganda
that the holy site is under attack and Israelis prevent Muslims from praying
there. Every time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweets something positive
in Arabic about an Arab leader, it reinforces that Israel is rooting for the
success of the Arab world. One of the reasons the
Arab-Israeli conflict persisted for so long was the myth that it could be
solved only after Israel and the Palestinians resolved their differences. That
was never true. The Abraham Accords exposed the conflict as nothing more than a
real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians that need not hold up
Israel’s relations with the broader Arab world. It will ultimately be resolved
when both sides agree on an arbitrary boundary line. The Biden administration
is making China a priority in its foreign policy, and rightly so—one of Mr.
Trump’s greatest legacies will be changing the world’s view of China’s
behavior. But it would be a mistake not to build on the progress in the Middle
East. Eliminating the ISIS caliphate and bringing about six peace
agreements—between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco
and Kosovo, plus uniting the Gulf Cooperation Council—has changed the paradigm. During his 2017 visit to
Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump called on Muslim-majority countries to root out
extremist ideology. As the custodian of the two holiest sites in Islam, Saudi
Arabia has made significant progress in combating extremism, which has greatly
reduced America’s risk of attack and created the environment for today’s new
partnerships. In Mr. Trump’s final deal before leaving office, he brokered the
end of the diplomatic conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, restoring an
important alliance to counter Iran. The Biden
administration, however, has one asset that the Trump administration never
had—a relationship with Iran. While many were troubled by the Biden team’s
opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, I saw it as a smart diplomatic move. The Biden administration
called Iran’s bluff. It revealed to the Europeans that the JCPOA is dead and
only a new framework can bring stability for the future. When Iran asked for a
reward merely for initiating negotiations, President Biden did the right thing
and refused. Mr. Trump has said that
Iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation. This negotiation is
high-stakes and, thanks to his policies, America holds a strong hand. Iran is
feigning strength, but its economic situation is dire and it has no ability to
sustain conflict or survive indefinitely under current sanctions. America
should be patient and insist that any deal include real nuclear inspections and
an end to Iran’s funding of foreign militias. If the threat from Iran
decreases, so can the region’s military budgets. Imagine how many lives could
be improved if that money, an outsize share of gross domestic product, were
invested in infrastructure, education, small business and impoverished
communities. Following the new road
map will prevent the Biden administration from repeating the mistakes of the
past and unlock opportunities for U.S. businesses. On Friday the U.A.E.
announced a $10 billion fund to invest in Israel; the Arab world is no longer
boycotting the Jewish state but betting that it will thrive. There are also
several more countries on the brink of joining the Abraham Accords, including
Oman, Qatar and Mauritania. These relationships should be pursued
aggressively—every deal is a blow to those who prefer chaos. Most important,
normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is in sight. The kingdom dipped a
toe in the water by granting overflight rights to Israel and, most recently,
allowing an Israeli racing team to participate in the Dakar Rally. The Saudi
people are starting to see that Israel is not their enemy. Relations with
Israel are in the Saudi national interest and can be achieved if the Biden
administration leads. I was touched when I
read in the Associated Press of a Jewish man who said he felt more comfortable
wearing a yarmulke in Dubai than in France. The estrangement between Jews and
Muslims in the Middle East over the past 70 years is not the norm. As Jews and
Muslims now travel more freely through the region, they return to the tradition
of ages past, when members of the Abrahamic faiths lived peacefully side by
side. The table is set. If it
is smart, the Biden administration will seize this historic opportunity to
unleash the Middle East’s potential, keep America safe, and help the region
turn the page on a generation of conflict and instability. It is time to begin
a new chapter of partnership, prosperity and peace. Mr. Kushner was a senior
adviser to President Trump.
David
Steinmann
The whole of the Middle East will pay the price for Biden’s Iran
appeasement policy Empowering Iran will come at the expense of not only Saudi Arabia
– but at the expense of Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians and Yemenis by Mohammed
Khalid Alyahya
Since the Biden
administration’s decision to reverse the designation of Yemen’s Houthi militia
as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) on February 12, drones and ballistic
missiles have targeted Saudi Arabia 48 times. The latest attack, on
Saudi oil facilities in Ras Tanura, in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, on
Sunday, did not come from the direction of Yemen, a royal court adviser told
the Wall Street Journal; declining to comment on whether the projectile was
launched from Iran or from Iraq. The removal of the
Houthis from the US government’s FTO list was meant to reduce tensions, but it
achieved the opposite result. At the heart of the Biden administration’s Middle
East policy is a fallacy: that the region’s politics should be understood as a
contest between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a conflict between two states that is
also a sectarian struggle. Seen from Tehran, the
central contest in the region is between the American alliance system and
Iran’s self-styled “resistance alliance”. Biden’s misconception leads to a number of erroneous ideas: that
the United States can play a neutral, mediating role between Riyadh and Tehran;
that by distancing itself from Saudi Arabia, it creates opportunities for regional stability
and understanding; and that it is the Saudi role in Yemen – and not the Iranian
role – that has perpetuated the conflict in that country. While escalating by
attacking Saudi Arabia via its proxies is a core part of Iran’s regional
policies, we must not forget that Iran has waged a
forty-year war to spread its control across the region — not to compete with
Saudi Arabia, but to undermine the American alliance system. The Biden administration’s resurrection of the
Obama doctrine in the Middle East has breathed life into one of its most
inaccurate and damaging myths: the centrality of a Saudi-Iran rivalry to
regional politics. Iran’s imperial project in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon does not exist
to reclaim influence from Saudi Arabia, but to upend the American security
order in the Middle East. And, like Iran’s Foreign Minister, Iran’s network of
terrorist groups in the region chant, “death to America,” not, “death to Saudi
Arabia”. Empowering Iran will
come at the expense of not only Saudi Arabia, but at the expense of Iraqis,
Lebanese, Syrians and Yemenis. In fact, it is the states already weakened and
controlled by Iran that stand to suffer the most as a result of the Biden
administration’s facilitation of cash payments to the Islamic Republic regime. In Iraq, this means
giving Iran’s militias like the Hezbollah Brigades and Badr Brigades a
much-needed financial and moral boost, after the previous US administration’s
sanctions pressure on Iran dealt a blow to their operational sustainability –
and after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Mohandis
damaged their morale. In Lebanon, the
appeasement of Iran will deliver a strategically and financially stronger
Hezbollah, that will double down on its monopolisation of the use of force and
the control of borders within Lebanon, as well as threaten Israel’s security –
raising the prospects of regional war. In Syria, under the
banners of “engagement” and “de-escalation,” the Obama administration’s policy
translated into the ceding of territory to genocidal Iranian militias, as well
as Russian and regime forces, that aided in the killing of nearly half a million
Syrians and the displacement of more than 10 million people – while
negotiations to sign the JCPOA were under way in Geneva. In Yemen today, we are
seeing a repeat of Obama’s Syria mistake. The Biden administration seeks to
save the JCPOA by implementing the Obama administration’s brand of “engagement”
and “de-escalation,” ostensibly to “end the war.” In reality, the message
received in Tehran was that this is the time to guarantee long-term strategic
victories on the ground in Yemen. Iran’s proxy in that
country, Ansarullah, wasted no time in launching a military offensive to
capture Marib, only days after the Biden administration sent the Obama-esque
policy signals from the White House. Iran and its proxies are observing the
Biden administration going “back to abnormal,” as Michael Doran puts it in an
opinion article in the wall street journal. The good news is that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s revolutionary
ideology is in a race against time. It is losing its efficacy and appeal among young Arab Shias
across the region. In Lebanon, Shia protestors chanted against Hassan
Nasrallah, an authority that for decades was considered off limits to all
Lebanese. Young Iraqi Shias chanted against Khamenei and Qassem Soleimani,
rejecting Iranian presence in Iraq. America needs to return
to the idea of enemies and allies, and dispense with the idea of being a
mediator. Iran’s attacks on Saudi Arabian civilian infrastructure, via its
proxies in Yemen and Iraq, are reactions to US policy – not Saudi Arabian policy.
Appeasing Iran, and punishing US allies, will come at the expense of the entire
region.
Mohammed Khalid Alyahya is
the editor-in-chief of AlArabiya.net -English.
He has been a senior fellow at the Gulf Research Center, as well as a
non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To the extent "Rube Berkowitz" can understand Biden's domestic and foreign policies this seems to be what he is about: DOMESTIC
a) shut down energy development so we will be dependent on more foreign sources. b) that way energy prices in America go up and people earning very good salaries and who are talented and have special expertise will lose their jobs so more people become dependent on government handouts. c) give government handouts making more Americans, who are willing to work and once did, dependent on the Democrat Party handouts which come from the wealth of others. d) This creates the largest wealth transfer because Biden can now raise taxes on those with taxable income to pay for the outrageous spending bill that was just passed. e) while "Dofuss" is doing this, pass legislation that keeps control of who is running the store solely in the hands of the Democrat Party so they can accomplish their foreign policy which seems to be: Foreign a) flood America with illegal immigrants and give them stipends for schlepping here thus, endearing them to the Democrat Party. b) make sure you undo anything positive Trump accomplished and, most particularly, favor Iran over Israel and it's Arab neighbors who are coming to realize they have been hating the wrong people in The Middle East. Their real enemies are the radical Arabs and Muslims who cause problems wherever they go and, by the way, that includes Obama. c) patsy up to China and send them a subtle message they can have Taiwan for the taking. d) Finally, make sure we continue to burden American productivity with "green observance" costs while the true polluters get extensions and rejoin WHO so China can finance more viruses while the U.N ignores where their source. Bonus: a) build a fence round the Capitol while allowing Trump's border wall to go unfinished. b) continue to ignore rioting and reimburse Democrat governors and mayors for mismanagement of their cities, states and pension funds. +++++++++++
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