Originally Posted by
Lowslung
Thanks for a measured reply.
I still think that squeezing China means squeezing the American public past the point that they are willing to tolerate. I hear a lot of talk about playing the long game vis a vis Iran, China, and Russia, but the long game has always been, and will continue to be a weak point for our country. That’s not going to change no matter how much we wish the reality were different. I would also argue that the US and Chinese economies are still intertwined enough that putting economic pressure (goes hand in hand with energy pressure obviously) on China has significant negative follow on effects in the US economy. Again, we may wish it weren’t so, but that’s the reality and will continue to be for at least some time. Finally, the last time we squeezed the energy supply of an Asian adversary, we wound up being pulled into a world war. Not saying that’s likely this time around, but it’s worth noting that we don’t make these decisions in a vacuum and other cultures tend to respond in ways that are hard for us to predict.
Again, thanks for the respectful discussion.
Those are fair points. I sometimes seriously scratch my head when it comes to the President (especially his 'mouth'), and sometimes I sit back and think he's crazy like a fox. There have been a number of things where I have been very impressed with the outcome, despite all the naysayers' gnashing of teeth, which drives a large part of the media and twitterverse (X-verse?) crazy, almost to the point where they chase their own tail. Which, if on purpose, is the ultimate troll.
For the moment, FWIW, I am still trusting his gut here. But not without concern. I will say, if history bears out that Iran
really did have 60% enriched Uranium (the ONLY purpose for which is to build a nuke, despite the
absolute lie of the Iranian fatwa against it - lying to the infidel is permissible in their holy book), then I feel this will all have been worth it. At least for the scenarios that are legitimately foreseeable. IMO, Iran among
any nation absolutely cannot be trusted with a Nuke. Hillary Clinton said that. Heck, even Kamala Harris said that, on
multiple occasions... Even Chuck Schumer denounced the JPCOA on the senate floor as insufficient. I was shocked when I saw that video (short version
here - amazing how he has changed his tune...). I submit history will debate the "how" of we got here most.
I appreciate the respectful dialogue too. Far too little rational discussion in the western world, the US, and yes, here on APC too. Far too many people only see things only in the binary, almost exclusively in alignment with their tribe (though not all).