Friends + Interlocutors,

I just love it when Democrat liberal critics of Donald Trump blame everything on him as if this poor sap is operating in a vacuum. The current “Letter from Washington” by sparky New Yorker columnist Susan Glasser is a good example. She asks, “Can Donald Trump win a war with Iran if he can’t explain why he started it?”

She never once mentions Benjamin Netanyahu. And Israel only in passing. Does she want you to forget about them? You might think that Donald Trump had dreamed up the joint attack on Iran all by himself out of the blue, a kind of personal rampage which is inexplicable. 

If only Trump could explain it better…then perhaps Glasser would be satisfied. That’s the logical implication. In short, she nitpicks Trump’s actions in starting the war, a war she probably agrees with, like most leading Jewish Democrats.

John Mearsheimer—Big Trouble Ahead in Iran—is more informative, straightforward and honest: 

“...the Trump administration was dragged into this war by Israel and its enormously powerful lobby in the US. Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson have admitted as much…many Americans understand that this is another war for Israel. Iran was no threat to the US and there was no reason for Trump to attack it.” Understandably, Glasser, a smart cookie, cannot bring herself to come to that obvious conclusion, at least not in print.

On the other hand, I cannot concur with Mearsheimer’s other conclusions, “...it is almost impossible for me to see how Israel and the US win this war…. For Iran to win, all it has to do is survive and not end up as a pawn of Israel and the US.”

It seems to me that since the October 7th, 2023 Hamas prison-break attack from Gaza into southern Israel, Netanyahu has been on a roll. Gaza has been flattened and Hamas has been effectively erased, its leadership murdered. 

In the aftermath of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, thanks to Biden and Trump, you don't hear any talk about a “two-state” solution coming from anyone in Washington, including Glasser. Trump only talks about destroying the remnants of Hamas if they do not agree to unconditional surrender and about turning Gaza into a Mediterranean seaside resort, free of Palestinians and open to Jewish settlers like on the West Bank.

As for the Hezbollah's resistance in south Lebanon, it too has been effectively erased. Netanyahu’s strategy has worked. Relentless bombing of the villages in the south and then blowing up Beirut's infrastructure if Hezbollah does not comply with Israel’s demands. The Lebanese do not want their once beautiful capitol, Beirut, to be destroyed. Hezbollah has little choice but to go to ground. At the moment, Netanyahu is grabbing more land in Lebanon, probably including the Litani River for its water. 

As for Syria, Netanyahu arranged with Washington for Syria to be destroyed as a nation-state. It is now ruled by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. After al-Qaeda terrorists took over Syria, Israel repeatedly bombed its infrastructure and national assets for good measure. 

Syria is now another free-fire zone for Israel. In his first term, Trump unilaterally recognized the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel. Now Israel has extended its occupation from the Golan to the outskirts of Damascus.

As for Iran, Netanyahu has recently stated that his dream to destroy Iran goes back four decades. This Israeli project is coming to fruition, in the manner of Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Actually, it’s a joint project with Washington. 

Regime change would be nice, but not required. It seems to me that severe degradation of Iran would be sufficient. Iran's leadership has been murdered and the country is being bombed to hell and back by the US military, which has become a de facto branch of the IDF. 

An additional positive development from Netanyahu’s point of view is that Iran is attacking its Arab neighbors. This will reignite the Sunni v. Shiite rivalry. Chaos and destruction are ends in themselves. Divide and conquer.

True, Israel is being hit by Iran in retaliation, but should that go too far, Tel Aviv can simply play its ace in the hole, and launch cruise missiles with atomic warheads into Iran from its German U-boats in the Indian Ocean. 

End of story. Pax Israeliana will have been achieved. And the downfall of America will be confirmed.

Patrick

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