by David Smith
I see Professor Stephen Walt is once again offering us his foreign policy insights (“Time to get US nukes out of Europe”.)
He raises an interesting question about the future US role in Europe’s defense. But he does so in a way that reminds of the kind of thinker he is. He is a thorough-going Chamberlainesque isolationist appeaser. He is also an ntellectual leader and apologist for the anti-Zionist, anti-Israel left.
To start, he demonstrates US foolishness by wondering why we still worry about airport security “long after Osama bin Laden’s death.” He believes Islamist terrorism was a one-man band, now deceased!
And how about his previous advice?
“The best way to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons is to engage it diplomatically and attempt to normalize its relationship with the US.”
This is from the his best-seller The Israel Lobby, published 2007. Its central thesis was that US foreign policy was directed by Israel and its friends, to the detriment of America’s real interests. In other words, the Jews are running this country.
Then Obama was elected, and instantly followed Walt’s advice. For his outreach, he got the back of Iran’s hand, and found out that even this softer, gentler US was still “The Great Satan.” See below: “Iran will never negotiate“, or ”Paging Dr. Walt and Dr. Mearsheimer“. Both Obama-era reality checks.
I’m sure Walt isn’t worried, since he also wrote that
“There is good reason to think a nuclear Iran could be contained and deterred.”
He neglected to articulate those reasons, then or now.
So maybe his reasons for US withdrawal from Europe are sound. And maybe they are a smokescreen for his ongoing effort to pull US power as far away from Iran and the Mideast as possible. I don’t know.
But I’d prefer to hear foreign policy advice from voices less compromised than Professor Walt.
