Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
The Ettinger Report, Nov. 12, 2024
“… regime-change is irreversible, eliminates the threat, and cannot be restored by a succeeding President.”
“I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” proclaimed President-elect Trump in his November 6 victory message.
*Bolstering the US’ posture of deterrence is the most critical prerequisite for stopping/minimizing wars and terrorism. The US’ posture of deterrence is reflected by the size and structure of the US’ defense budget, avoiding appeasement of rogue entities, and dwelling on reality (as frustrating as it is) rather than alternate reality.
*The US’ posture of deterrence has been undermined by the State Department, which was evicted from the center stage of foreign policy formulations during President Trump’s first term. Trump opposes Foggy Bottom’s multilateral/cosmopolitan state of mind, which prefers a coordinated policy with the UN, international organizations and Europe, rather than a unilateral, independent US national security and foreign policy.
The State Department has also subordinated Middle East reality to its own alternate reality, which has led to its systematic failure in the Middle East (e.g., the 1978-9 stabbing the Shah in the back, and facilitating the Ayatollahs’ rise to power; the embrace of Saddam Hussein until his 1990 invasion of Kuwait; the 1993 cuddling of Arafat and ushering him to the Nobel Peace Prize; the 2009 betrayal of the pro-US Mubarak and the courting of the anti-US Moslem Brotherhood; the 2010 reference to the Arab Tsunami on the Arab Street, as if it were an Arab Spring and Facebook Revolution; the 2011 military offensive on Qadhafi, which transformed Libya into a major arena of anti-US Islamic terrorism; and pressuring Israel to conclude a series of accords with – and refrain from demolishing – Hamas, which bolstered Hamas’ terrorism and led to the October 7 atrocities).
*The US’ posture of deterrence has been severely undermined by the State Department’s policy toward Iran’s Ayatollahs regime, which has been transformed – since the February 1979 toppling of the Shah – from “the American Policeman of the Gulf” to an arch anti-US venomous octopus, stretching its tentacles from the Persian Gulf through the Middle East and Africa into Latin America and the US soil.. … [To read the full article, click here]
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