Tweaking the United States

Tweaking the United States

By Victor Davis Hanson

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As the Iranian nuclear threat
continues to grow, neither the United States nor Israel are eager to be
damned by the global community for sending in bombers to take out
Tehran's dispersed and hard-to-find subterranean nuclear factories.
Meanwhile, European diplomats will fail in their milquetoast efforts to
bribe the Iranian mullahs to forgo nukes. And a peaceful revolution
that leads to a new Iranian democracy renouncing such weapons remains a
utopian dream.

So, the practical and, realistically, best solution to thwarting Iran's
nuclear-weapon ambitions would be for the Russians to cease selling the
Iranians nuclear technology. They could demand - not just suggest -
that all uranium enrichment for "peaceful" energy use be done inside
Russia.

Yet for all their talk, the Russians will not do this. Besides the
profits to be had from trading with the oil-rich theocracy, the
Russians derive a certain satisfaction from tweaking the United States.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, and the loss of global influence,
the Russians gain at least psychic satisfaction knowing that the
Iranians are a thorn in the U.S.'s side. Moscow enjoys observing that
Washington doesn't always get its way - and may find itself
overwhelmed with a nuclear enemy on the doorstep of the newly
democratic Iraq.


China plays the same spoiler role in regard to North Korea. Ostensibly,
it has no desire to see Kim Jong-il with a nuclear arsenal on its
already unstable border. But the Chinese apparently see advantages in
allowing a renegade regime to drive their rivals crazy, especially
Japan, Taiwan and the United States.


So in the manner of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, the Chinese
leadership will promise to play a "constructive role." Meanwhile, the
Americans can worry themselves sick over whether Los Angeles will soon
be in range of a nut with a nuclear-tipped missile.


And then, next to Iraq, there is our "ally" Saudi Arabia sitting atop
about a quarter of the earth's known petroleum reserves. On the one
hand, it would do the Saudi royal family no good to see Iraq degenerate
into a terrorist-filled Lebanon on its border. Yet, the Saudis also
tire of the busybody Americans reforming the Middle East and birthing
democracy at their doorstep. The Saudis have the power to cut off
funding for radical Islamic charities and madrassas. They could
discourage Wahhabi mullahs in Iraq's Sunni Triangle. And they could
pour billions of investment dollars into Iraqi reconstruction.


Yet they probably won't do any of that. Seeing the United States spend
lives and billions of dollars in an unpopular war in Iraq brings them
schadenfreude as well - and fewer sermons from the U.S. about women
driving to the polls to vote in free elections.


In terms of long-term security, the Russians, Chinese and Saudis may
privately sort of hope the United States is successful in defanging
Iran and North Korea and stabilizing Iraq. After all, who wants rogue
regimes with nukes and terrorists getting too carried away and harming
business?


And yet by costing the American sheriff time, money, lives and
popularity, these problems keep the United States busy enough to leave
others be. Iran, North Korea and jihadists in Baghdad are all more
likely to target Americans anyway than Russians, Chinese or Saudis.


Even so-called allies like the Europeans more or less play the
wink-and-nod game. They likewise are full of pride but void of real
conventional military power. So Euros hope that the Americans can
corral Iran and North Korea, and succeed in Iraq - but not in an easy
enough fashion that adds to already ample American prestige.


What can we learn from all this? All these machinations have little to
do with a supposedly insensitive George Bush suddenly "losing" our
goodwill abroad. Rather, long-standing envy, hurt over the lack of
global influence and the quest for profit more likely guide Russian,
Chinese, Saudi and, to an extent, European policies in the post-Cold
War American era.


We should expect allies and neutrals to ankle-bite rather than help.
Meanwhile, the United States must press on in its efforts to deny
nuclear weapons to rogue regimes and hunt down terrorists.


Strategic missile defense will prove invaluable in the decades ahead
against regimes that have only a few dozen warheads. Staying in Iraq
until the new democracy there is firmly established and defeats the
insurrection will drive the theocrats in Iran and Saudi Arabia crazy in
fear that democracies soon may spread their way. And there are also
more valuable partners, such as the Japanese, Indians, Australians and
British, who can come to the fore to battle the spread of nuclear
weapons and terrorism.


Finally, we can be far more quiet abroad about our intentions while
carrying an even bigger stick. In other words, wrinkle our brow, bite
our lip and praise the United Nations and multilateralism to the skies
publicly - while acknowledging that ultimately only the American
military can keep the United States safe.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?.
    ... Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?. ... The development of an Iranian nuclear program continues apace. ... United States "cannot allow the Iranians to develop a nuclear weapon" ... The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that if the Iranian ...
    (soc.culture.iranian)
  • [southnews] Zbigniew Brzezinski: Do not attack Iran
    ... Iranian nuclear facilities: ... Do not attack Iran ... If there is another terrorist attack in the United States, ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • @@ Now that Iran intends to build a nuclear bomb, the West has no options to stop it @@
    ... The Nuclear Power Beside Iraq ... The mullah-dominated Iranian government was still ... consider what choices the United States might have if the Iranian problem built to a ... See "Will Iran Be Next?" ...
    (soc.culture.iranian)
  • Re: space travel or war
    ... It is the today the federal government that wants to capitalize on the ... if it were not for the "dumbing down" effect that war ... Obviously you assume here that the United States faces no challenges ... States faced the distinct possibility of a successful nuclear Pearl ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: space travel or war
    ... if it were not for the "dumbing down" effect that war ... Obviously you assume here that the United States faces no challenges ... States faced the distinct possibility of a successful nuclear Pearl ... we cannot have certain rights in the nuclear age. ...
    (sci.space.policy)