by Tom Luongo, Tom Luongo:
“You either die a hero, or you live just long enough to become the villain.”
— Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight.
Too many people are trying to downplay last weekend’s response from Iran to Israel’s attack on their consulate in Damascus as some kind of “Wag the Dog” event. While I do agree there was a certain level of theatrics in the entire scene, to think this wasn’t a major geopolitical event is the worst kind of cynical cope.
Usually that type of detached cynicism is reserved to Millennials, but when I see folks in my age cohort doing this I become far more worried that everyone’s in denial to a dangerous degree. I was contacted by Sputnik News to discuss the Biden administration’s options and potential response via sanctions on Iran among other things.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
While Biden signed off on a bunch of toothless virtue signaling, the reality of the post-Israel/Iran exchange is far starker.
Like when Trump assassinated General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Iran reacted with just the right amount of force, bloodying US forces in Iraq, showing off a little as to what their missile arsenal is capable of, and leaving the ball squarely on Trump’s side of the court to either pick up or ignore.
Trump, smartly, left the ball where it lay.
Iran’s strike on Israel, as others have pointed out quite effectively, was designed to show the Israeli people who support Benjamin Netanyahu’s unhinged, in my opinion, response to the October 7th attack that they can be gotten to.
This was an example of asymmetric warfare at its finest. The economics of war have changed. Now, attacking with swarms of drones and missiles is far cheaper than the sophisticated air defense systems and the property they are protecting.
Iran made that point very clearly last weekend.
Israel’s leadership has led the Israeli people to the brink of extermination just as Hamas’ has led the people of Gaza to the same fate. Never think for a minute that either of these groups of people are anything but cannon fodder for the globalist imperative to remake the world in their preferred image.
So, before the attack on Iran’s embassy Benjamin Netanyahu was their standard bearer, if polls from Israel are to be believed, for the extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza. Today, after digesting the sight of hundreds of drones and missiles from Iran and its allies impacting in the backyards he better be on his way to being their villain.
Because the theatrical part of Iran’s attack on Israel was that it wasn’t intended to do a ton of damage or kill hundreds of people. The goal was to send the right message to various groups of onlookers. And part of that message was that Iran and the United States agreed on a general framework for the strike so as to put the ball in Netanyahu’s court and dare him to have the strength that Trump showed.
I don’t have high hopes for that.
But it does signal a change in US behavior. And if my read on the Obama/Biden axis in the US is correct, then Bibi has vastly overplayed his hand. I believe the facts fit the scenario that the US told Iran they wouldn’t stop an attack on Israel as long as it fit within the scope of Israel and its allies’ ability to defend. Step out of that box, Iran, and we’ll let you have it.
