This Cato Institute piece puts the spotlight on inconsistent statements of Joe Biden’s concerning the right of the USA to “dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do” in the context of a hypothetical attack on Iran by Isreal.
When a politician starts talking about morals, pinch your nose and light a match. In a world acting under the attitude of nuclear deterrence and mutually assured destruction, it should come as no surprise, when the world’s most powerful nation with the largest nuclear stockpile calls Iran part of an “axis of evil” and spews rhetoric about how dangerous the country is, that Iran would respond by attempting to build their own nuclear bombs. Yes, this is an aggressive move, but we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that it’s irrational or that the political players making this move are crazy and want to destroy the world. Their actions make sense if you allow them to.
There’s plenty one can say to criticize Iran’s leadership. But political moralizing is just an explanation (i.e. excuse) for the extremely aggressive stance the US has taken in matters of foreign policy. The US takes action to bring itself greater power and to undermine the power of their enemies to stand in the US’s way. It is an empire.
As the Cato piece indicates near the end, this foreign policy is seemingly undertaken without considering the likely consequences (retaliation, 9/11-style). And the world-conquerors who turned people against us in the first place will say that they weren’t allowed to take their mission far enough and that’s why we were attacked again, subsequently taking more power for themselves so that they may pursue terrorists more effectively. Supreme irony and tragedy.
What’s wrong with letting the world sort out its own problems, without us? We are not the world’s daddy, we have no responsibility to other countries other than to be good neighbors in the world we share. A defenseive, non-interventionist foreign policy is infinitely safer, less expensive, and morally sound. Isn’t it something we can at least consider?
One Comment
What I find most frightening about Biden’s comments are that he either 1) completely forgot that he is the Vice President of the United States or 2) automatically supports all decisions made by Israel.
After what happened following 9/11, I think the United States would hold incredibly stringent requirements for determining the necessity of war. When it comes to war, I think hands-off, nodding politicians are the last thing we need.