Posted on 01/30/2024 4:55:50 AM PST by MtnClimber
“We do not seek another war. We do not seek to escalate. But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks…We will respond. We’ll do that on our schedule,” White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby stated.
Iran isn’t afraid of escalating. Its leaders and spokesmen don’t constantly express their fear of escalation. Instead, they escalate.
Their Jihadists seize control of shipping in the Red Sea. They invade Israel and kill over a thousand people. They hit a U.S. base inside Jordan.
The obsessions with “escalation” or “proportionate responses” are foolish. A military action is a tool. The question is what is the goal that this tool is accomplishing?
I can’t think of anything proportionate responses by a stronger nation reacting to aggression accomplish. In some conditions, such a response may maintain a balance of terror, but against an enemy who is constantly escalating, they clearly don’t work.
At best (and this is debatable) they may serve as some sort of brake slowing down the level of enemy escalation. But that’s also senseless.
When faced with escalating attacks, you can choose to withdraw from the arena of action (if possible, and this is also debatable) or if you have the capability, you either defeat the enemy or escalate beyond their ability to respond.
The Biden administration is once again choosing to do none of these things. Instead, it’s going to put on a show of responding in what it considers to be a proportionate way that is in theory meant to dissuade Iran from further attacks, but that clearly is not working.
And will never work.
When the enemy is afraid of escalating and you aren’t, the enemy has a problem. When you’re afraid of escalating and the enemy isn’t, you have a problem.
The goal of a balance of terror is to move from the latter to the former. Instead, Biden has moved us from the former to the latter.
And your source for that figure is?
The only source I have seen for Hamas/Gaza casualties is Hamas. They are not a credible source.
If your quotation is referring to Jarrett, you are probably right.
Fools and the ambitious make great tools for the traitor, however. And it may be that there is no focused foreign power involved, as in Cicero’s time, but rather an ideology, even an internal one.
Many references and summaries given here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war
As of 22 January, over 26,000 people (25,105 Palestinian and 1,410 Israeli[8]) have been killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 83 journalists (76 Palestinian, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 136 UNRWA aid workers.[9][10]
The goal of a balance of terror is to move from the latter to the former. Instead, Biden has moved us from the former to the latter.
What could have changed a few years ago, that would allow Iran to change its provocations? Hmmm ...
Ping out to the Daniel Greenfield Ping! List.
As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the esteemed Daniel Greenfield ping list.
Daniel Greenfield's website: The Sultan Knish blog
The fear of escalation can be likened to a huge paper hornet nest hanging outside your entry door. You know from the outset that hornets don’t give a wit if they die in battle and if their nest is disturbed and the alarm is sounded they will all mount out in a coordinated attack. Visualize the hornets and the nest as Allah’s minions and yourself wanting to peacefully use your property but knowing that you have lost control of your life and property if you allow that nest of hornets to remain outside your door. It’s obvious that the nest has to be destroyed but building up the courage to do so is another matter. That’s where the non-Islamic world is with respect to Islam. The hornets have to be eliminated but you are not sure if you are ready yet to bang on that hornet nest. However, you know full well that sooner or later the nest must be destroyed. That’s because the world of Islam is not compatible with the civilized world we live in.
Sorry. Wikipedia is not a credible source for political or current events. You can even scroll down to the bottom of your linked paged and see the sources used for it. Mostly Al Jazeera and other left-wing news sources.
<< 25,105 Palestinian (deaths) >>
Source: Hamas. Not exactly a reliable one.
Excellent.
And maybe add on that Eagle Pass TX is ten thousand times more important than Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan all put together.
After centuries of persecution in Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, the Jews decide to go there?
If anything, they're the responsibility of the UK (Balfour declaration and Palestine mandate), Germany (Holocaust perpetrators) and Russia (19th Century pogroms and source of recent immigrants).
Amen, I absolutely should have mentioned that, which is the far larger point. The entire concept of forward defense (what the great strategic thinker GW Bush called ‘fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here’…) is light years beyond ludicrous when our Southern border is wide open to millions of invaders.
Obama will try to buy them off, which of course will work for say, a week or so.
It’s not our problem, but it’s not not our problem.
No one is advocating for active US intervention in Gaza.
The article isn’t specifically only about the killing of our soldiers, but it’s still conflating Israel and Gaza (not the US) with being willing to have a proportional response to an attack on our people in Iraq.
Same words LBJ SAID IN 1964 regarding Vietnam as he was bombing the north.
Baby milk factories everywhere should be on high alert.
.
OK, General.
I am available for the job! (But not expecting the call…)
Iran has thousands of ballistic missiles and 10s of thousands drones.
They’ll set them loose at every oil facility in range.
It makes for a complicated cost/benefit analysis.
👍
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.