The current leadership in the White House appear to believe in the power of ‘abracadabra’. Their wishful thinking, however, does not translate into a sturdy geopolitical strategy. Proclaiming lofty objectives, such as desiring a ceasefire in Gaza, an accord with Iran, or the calming storm in the Middle East, is futile if no concrete steps are taken to achieve them.
This hazy approach in foreign policy has alarmingly demonstrated its inefficacy. The White House seems to have lost track of the basic rule of International Relations – airing out disagreements with an ally in public only provokes adversaries to revise their stratagem. Worse yet, revealing predetermined goals and the lines they are unwilling to cross only emboldens those working against us.
When the signal from the administration is one of withdrawing interest and decreasing involvement in a region, it energizes malicious actors who are eager to fill the impending vacuum. This haphazard approach has had dire consequences, with escalating conflicts pushing not just the Middle East but the entire world closer to the brink of a full-blown war.
The phrase ‘abracadabra’, conceptualized as ‘my words will create reality’, has taken on an utterly distorted interpretation under Biden’s leadership. In the Ukraine crisis, the administration’s public proclamation that American arms wouldn’t find their way onto Russian territory has ironically fueled Moscow’s perception of having a free reign, an exact antithesis of the intended ‘de-escalation’.
Yet, the implications of this ineffective administration’s faux pas become all the more prominent when dealing with Iran, a shrewd instigator of tension in the Middle East and beyond. As tensions mount following the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Washington’s unstable signals have boosted Iran’s confidence.
Biden’s responses, like his curt ‘Don’t’ when asked for his message to Tehran, seem outright dismissive of the serious repercussions his idle words can and have caused. His repeated use of the same ineffective messaging brings to mind the phrase you could almost envision Benjamin Netanyahu uttering: ‘Well, that’s helpful’.
The last time that Iran started preparing warheads, Biden’s ‘don’t’ seemed to provoke a shower of missiles and drones on Israel. The United States did manage to construct a solid international coalition that defended Israel then, but the successive call to Israel from the White House, to ‘take the win’ and abstain from counter-actions, was a mistake.
Following this, Jerusalem countered by annihilating a radar unit near Iran’s nuclear facility. Whether this serves to establish an ample deterrent remains unanswered. However, the widely known indifferent stance of America towards exacting a cost for belligerence is now a lens through which adversaries, like Ayatollah, scrutinize every move.
Reading between the lines, Tehran seems to be outsmarting Washington at every turn. It’s almost impossible to discern if the U.S. possesses a coherent strategy to counter Iran. Remember when Trump replaced Obama’s nuclear deal with a robust sanction package, the ‘maximum pressure’ strategy? That threw a wrench in Iran’s advances.
On Biden’s watch, appeasement became the strategy even before he took office. During the 2020 campaign, he broadcasted his zeal to reinstate Obama’s deal via a CNN op-ed. This caused Iran to act accordingly, abusing the negotiations process while accelerating their nuclear ambitions.
While Iran continued to enrich uranium past their original goal of 20%, then 60%, Biden’s administration looked the other way, offering avenues of appeasement. $16 billion in previously frozen assets were released back into Iranian hands as sanctions were breezed past or simply overlooked.
As if that wasn’t enough, the White House even renewed a sanction waiver that allows the regime to receive a $10 billion pot from selling electricity to Iraq, regardless of recent Hamas attacks. Iran got the message loud and clear: they could continue on their path with little to no intervention.
With this approach, Biden’s administration has committed geopolitical blunders, casting a dark shadow on the tail end of his presidency. The world is in chaos with aggressive states like Russia and China more emboldened than ever.
Our prime ally in the Middle East, Israel, has been forsaken, now compelled to fend off threats single-handedly. An oppressive theocracy, a crony of Moscow and Beijing, moves closer to becoming a regional nuclear superpower, fostering a more tumultuous and uncertain world.
Wouldn’t it have been more effective to assert strength, to show toughness from the very start? Rather than wishing away problems, a real-world strategy must involve confronting the challenges head-on and holding aggressor states accountable for undermining peace.
In the end, ‘Abracadabra,’ as Biden seems to interpret it, surely isn’t a strategy. Real diplomacy needs a reality check against the whimsical wishful thinking being exercised from the White House.
Biden’s ‘Abracadabra’ Leadership: Words Without Action appeared first on Real News Now.
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