Withdrawing from the Iran deal wasn't enabling an ally to drag us into a war. It was ending a gift to mullah-run Iran to facilitate its drive to acquire nuclear weapons. It was an attempt to prevent an enemy ("Death to America!") from starting an even more destructive war.
This Geopolitical Monitor analysis is bizarre to me:
A cardinal tenet of realpolitik advises against allowing a minor ally to precipitate a major conflict. Presently, from the perspective of the US security framework, we are observing a disintegration at the very core of what might be termed the emergent US order on a macro scale. ...
Foremost among these was Washington’s unilateral exit from the nuclear accord with Iran, a move that underscored a willingness to forsake treaty commitments — even at the cost of alienating European allies — in favor of aligning with Tel Aviv’s stance.
First off, what treaty commitment is the author talking about? The Iran nuclear deal was not a treaty--by State Department design. Obama didn't want it to be a treaty because it could not have passed the Senate super majority requirement. The deal was just a document that a number of parties picked up off a desk and took home!
The author has a point about not letting a minor ally drag us into war. I've noted that flaw in the Obama era "leading from behind" fad. There's a reason so many of our allies lack sufficient ammunition now. Our plan after World War II was to hobble their ability to wage war on their own but resupply them if we face a common enemy. And allies were happy to offload the cost on America.
Until now. America's inability to live up to that ammunition deal has killed it. We need allied production.
But tying that reality of alliance management to ending the absolutely horrible Iran nuclear deal is nuts. The deal was based on Iranian and Western lies:
We're willing to pretend that Iran isn't even seeking nuclear weapons. Just in time for the Monday "deadline" for a final agreement.
Which means we won't have leverage to complain that the mullahs are seeking nuclear weapons contrary to an agreement.
And which also means that Iran can portray themselves as an innocent victim of Western aggression that suffered under sanctions for no good reason other than to starve poor Moslem children.
Once we start pretending, what's the limit? I'm sure that we will then pretend the deal worked right up until Iran tests a nuclear weapon (perhaps first in North Korea) and announces that it has already deployed a half dozen weapons of the same design.
And we'll pretend Iran's nuclear status really doesn't matter.
And the deal was aided by media lies.
Hell, the whole point of the deal was to "balance" the Middle East with a strengthened--now with moderation!--Iran on once side and the Gulf Arabs on the other. Ah, Smart Diplomacy!®
The persistent love of Obama and Biden for mullah-run Iran is the most bizarre aspect of this bizarre analysis.
And the two other reasons the author gives to bolster his claim that America is forfeiting its leadership in the Middle East are the American defeat in Afghanistan and America's support for Israel.
Sure, needlessly losing the Afghanistan war hurt us. It may have emboldened Iran and its little pet pyschos like Hamas and the Houthi.
But does supporting Israel against Iran's Hamas and Houthi proxies really hurt American influence?
Doesn't backing an ally despite international and domestic pressure make Arab autocrats a little more confident in American support? Confidence that the author says defeat in Afghanistan shook, remember.
I say America pretends Iran isn't waging war on America and that sucking up to Iran hurts confidence in American support.
Doesn't the lack of a reaction in the Arab "street" to support Hamas show that Israel isn't the real regional problem? I mean, Arab states had to settle for exciting America's street:
Observers stunned at the campus-based protest movement on behalf of Hamas have come to learn that this protest movement is far from spontaneous, but has in fact been lavishly financed and developed for years by leading left-wing philanthropies along with Arab states in the Middle East.
Doesn't all this make Arab cooperation with America to face their historic and now aggressive Iranian enemy more rather than less likely?
Geopolitical Monitor often seems just bizarre to me.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.