Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter…We do not seek escalation or war….
Iran Blinks, Deterrence Restored
Iran’s leadership did not know what Trump’s red lines were before the US assassination of Suleimani. They literally had no idea. And they were testing it. They now know.
Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched. We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression. J. Zarif — Iran’s Foreign Minister
Iran’s leadership did not know what Trump’s red lines were before the US assassination of Suleimani. They literally had no idea. And they were testing it. They now know. Ian Bremmer
This is a clear win for the Trump Administration and its Jacksonian Tradition political faction. The very ineffective and limited missile strike by Iran is equivalent to the kid asking for water in Kung Fu Hustle.
In case you missed the best martial arts movie of all time — Kung Fu Hustle — this is the mindset of the Iranian leadership when they ordered this strike.
The Trump administration has escalated the level of violence in Iraq in response to Iranian provocations. Under the Jacksonian Tradition, Iran or its proxies may attack Saudi oil facilities or even shoot down a U.S. drone, however, you kill an American, attack our Iraq Embassy, and then tweet that Trump “can’t do anything” about it, welcome to Jacksonian foreign policy (or ‘why bring a knife to a knife-fight if you can bring a drone?’).
An observer who thinks of American foreign policy only in terms of the commercial realism of the Hamiltonians (think Bush ‘43), the crusading moralism of Wilsonian transcendentalists (think Obama ‘44), and the supple pacifism of the principled Jeffersonians (think Carter ’39) would be at a loss to account for American ruthlessness in the exercise of hard power, including war.
The United States has done this before. One of the chief elements in American success has always been the will and the means to compel its enemies to yield to its demands. The political tradition that has driven much of this controlled violence (from atomic bombs to Agent Orange) is the Jacksonians.
The Jacksonians are the backbone of our military. The Jacksonian patriotism, and the martial spirit behind it, gives the United States immense advantages in international affairs. After two world wars and the cold war, the European nations are unwilling to pay for their own defense let alone pay the price in blood and treasure for a global presence.
Trump will not escalate from here. The best outcome will be to allow Iraq to serve as the intermediary (since attacks both occurred on their territory). Iraq can request the USA not retaliate. If Trump can allow someone else some credit, then he can honor such a request and this matter ends now. No WWIII and no cycle of escalation. We have the Jacksonians to thank.
For a comprehensive account of Jacksonian values and beliefs and how they affect the United States, read The Jacksonian Tradition: And American Foreign Policy by Walter Russell Mead in The National Interest, №58 (Winter 1999/2000).
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