America's role on the world stage
are we witnessing a prelude to a familiar tale retold?
A tale of two Trumps within 8 hours of each other - the first revealing a closet neocon willing to ride shotgun to Israel’s desired regime change in Iran; the latter portraying what so many MAGA voters thought would be a truly America First president.
Today, when reporters at the White House asked Trump about a potential US strike on Iran, the president responded “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin said, “We control the skies over Tehran. We are striking with tremendous force at the regime of the ayatollahs. We are hitting the nuclear sites, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of the regime."
Iran’s response on X today:
Since Friday, Iran has reported more than 200 deaths from Israeli attacks, and Israel claims two dozen civilians have died from Iranian strikes.
Coincidentally, Russian and Iranian officials met today for a conference on “Russian-Iranian cooperation in a changing world.” As of today, Russia is staying out of the fray, but as reported by The Guardian, a source close to the Russian foreign ministry said “If the current Iranian regime collapses, it would be both a strategic and reputational blow for Russia. A bigger loss than the fall of Damascus.”
The G7 - composed of Japan, Italy, France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States - issued a joint statement on the burgeoning conflict:
We, the leaders of the G7, reiterate our commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East.
In this context, we affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel.
We also affirm the importance of the protection of civilians.
Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror.
We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.
We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza.
We will remain vigilant to the implications for international energy markets and stand ready to coordinate, including with like-minded partners, to safeguard market stability.
Developments are continuously pouring in, but at this moment let’s not forget what Benjamin Netanyahu said in front of the United States Congress in September 2022 (one year after 9/11):
If you take out Saddam, Saddam's regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region and I think that people sitting right next door in Iran young people and many others will say the time of such regimes of such despots is gone. There is a new age, something new is happening.
If Trump decides to ultimately be America First, to let Israel fight its own wars without American political, financial or military support, then something new can happen.
Otherwise we all know how Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq played out.
