If the US had not squandered not only blood and treasure but also credibility in its futile and useless wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, we would have been in a much better position to have directly prevented Iran from even starting a nuclear weapons program.
Julius Caesar is reported to have said, that he would rather have an army of apes led by a lion, than an army of lions led by an ape.
There was one missing ingredient in your comprehensive analysis - that was the characters of the key players. Leaving out Israel and Russia for the sake of brevity, in Iran and China we have vicious and brutal expansionist powers with a complete indifference to law, treaties, or human life. Iran is also motivated by a deep and deadly hatred of Israel and the USA, the Chinese more calculating, but still hostile to America also as an obstacle to its ambitions. In opposition to these two cunning, cruel and deadly powers we have a US government that is more concerned about global warming and the right of transgenders to use the locker an shower rooms of their choice, and views parents protesting at public school board meetings and people opposed to Biden's other policies as a threat to national security.
Not that any of this is new to you, but it is a part of the equation.
If the US had not squandered not only blood and treasure but also credibility in its futile and useless wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, we would have been in a much better position to have directly prevented Iran from even starting a nuclear weapons program.
Julius Caesar is reported to have said, that he would rather have an army of apes led by a lion, than an army of lions led by an ape.
A disaster of political leadership.
There was one missing ingredient in your comprehensive analysis - that was the characters of the key players. Leaving out Israel and Russia for the sake of brevity, in Iran and China we have vicious and brutal expansionist powers with a complete indifference to law, treaties, or human life. Iran is also motivated by a deep and deadly hatred of Israel and the USA, the Chinese more calculating, but still hostile to America also as an obstacle to its ambitions. In opposition to these two cunning, cruel and deadly powers we have a US government that is more concerned about global warming and the right of transgenders to use the locker an shower rooms of their choice, and views parents protesting at public school board meetings and people opposed to Biden's other policies as a threat to national security.
Not that any of this is new to you, but it is a part of the equation.
Absolutely!