151 Comments

So is China. So is Russia. So is North Korea. We just ignore it.

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This makes me physically ill. I can't believe this isn't a bigger topic of discussion in an election year. That this administration wants to "keep the door open" for another JCPOA is completely insane where the line from the JCPOA to 10/7 is bright red and still dripping with blood. It obviously has actual real-world consequences for our country and our military as well. Biden "escalated" a long time ago when he agreed to negotiate with Iran, he doesn't get to unring that bell now.

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This article and the one about the UN agency have tested my last nerve. Has this President ever had a plan for ANYTHING..from Afghanistan to the economy to the conversion to electric cars with noinfrastructure, to the southern border and on and on……how inept can one man and his administration be? And now we have our military personnel being targeted by Iran and its puppet organizations. One can only hope that there are some substantive people in this administration who will rise up to develop an integrated plan with our allies to be on the front foot instead of our back foot. Our foreign policies are not effective and our main ally in the Mideast, Israel, is about the only state doing something about these terrorists.

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Agreed 100%. It only makes sense when you realize destroying us and our way of life was the plan all along

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I've believed for awhile that our real enemy in the Middle East isn't Hamas, Hezbollah, or Houthis--though they sure make a damn mess--but their paymasters and guides, the evil turbans of ayatollahan Iran. Why is the United States so timid about confronting Iran directly and forcing them to stop funding and directing the Islamic death cults killing our troops and mass-murdering Israelis? What hold does Iran have over us that makes us weak-kneed at the prospect of assassinating a few dozen ayatollahs and then wrecking, over and over, Iran's atomic program, until they get the message?

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Thank you for covering this, Mr. Lake. The US State Department is Iran’s patsy. Everyone seems to know that but the US negotiators and our President.

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A big part of the current administration's equivocations is the that the government, especially the State Department and White House advisory staffs are infiltrated with Muslims and others loyal or sympathetic to the Islamic goal of world domination. Weeding out these traitors should be the goal of the next administration.

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Hi Bari Weiss and the Democratic Party Rehabilitation Project (aka The Free Press)!

Boy! Another boffo bit of writing.

Funny note. The largest burden for American foreign policy rests squarely on the executive branch.

Why not start writing articles about how getting the orange man from office was of such vital importance that you guys were willing to vote for a known liar who is now committing acts of negligence that is tantamount to treason...?

Inquiring minds want to know!

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Dems never learn. Wasafool needs immediate change to Obamawasis&willforeverbeahorsesass&afool.

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Jan 26·edited Jan 26

I think we are at a very weird point in history. War doesn't work. It's not a question of morality or justification, its very simply a question of whether the goals are being accomplished or not. We're seeing it consistently across the globe and across conflicts.

I support Israel's efforts in Gaza far more than I would have expected to before October, but do I honestly think it will help Israel in the long term? Not really. Short term definitely. Medium term maybe. Long term...not so much.

To further complicate things, I think the regimes in the middle east look at things very differently from us. Hamas was willing to absolutely bury the Palestinians just to carry out a terror attack which didn't have any obvious material benefit for their cause. Iran is conducting attacks which don't really seem like they will advance Iran's agenda in any meaningful way.

The question becomes what to do. Allowing the Iranians to interfere with free navigation is not an option. Allowing Hamas to destroy Israel is not an option. Beyond that, though, it is very unclear what needs to be done to get us to a better place. We need to think outside the box, because the old ways of doing things are not yielding any results at all.

I think other regimes also don't understand us. Russia's sovereignty was in no danger from us whatsoever, regardless of what Putin's propaganda machine wants to say, and regardless of how many missiles we have near their borders. The same is true with Iran - they want nuclear weapons to ensure their sovereignty but it truly isn't necessary. If I were these other countries, I wouldn't trust the US either, but what matters to the US is *money* and where money is involved there is always a negotiation to be had. Russia was on the verge of having Europe highly dependent on it's natural gas supplies, ensuring it's sovereignty more than ever before, but then chose to pursue this insane effort to restore it's cold war boundaries. Things are just very strange in the world today and we need to start looking at new ways to approach our problems.

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Excellent article Eli. I hope it is disseminated widely to educate people on what the real situation is with Iran

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founding

Biden's actions, or inactions, at the border and regarding Iran are so egregiously damaging to our country that they should be considered treasonous. Grounds for impeachment, now.

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Very sad but true assessment of this administration’s policies on every front.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Thank Obama's administrations one through the third. Leftism has consequences and this article underscores that fact.

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Great article as usual but I must disagree with your assessment of "these stories have barely been covered". I know of all of these reports from outside The Free Press and they were covered from the sources I use locally here in the Northeast. Any US administration will downplay 'bad' news against US forces so that not really "news" IMHO.

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Sorry, hit 'send' too quickly. :( Though I completely agree the Biden admin is too soft on Iran, by a long shot.

Thanks again for the reporting!

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I agree. I wonder when he says they aren’t reported he means by the mainstream media?

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In a sense its regrettable to like an article that is so respectable in journalism yet displays the horror that the administration in Washington cares less about Americans who defend this country than those who attack it. In a very real sense it calls into question the patriotism of our media class who truly has lost the ability to be naturally curious about national issues. Every mother and dad who has a son or daughter thinking about entering the military should have them read this article and answer the question , will my service serve a higher purpose with an administration that is willing to put the interests of Iran above those who have taken the oath to defend this country. You would think that someone who mentions Beau name so often honor his memory through his actions . Yet he has undermined the whole Beau narrative as if Beau is a mere prop.

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founding

Is it any wonder our military can no longer meet its recruiting goals? Who wants to be cannon fodder for a bunch of losers?

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The U.S. has been perpetually at war--openly or covertly--for my entire lifetime regardless of whether the government is controlled by Republicans or Democrats. Trump did call for an end to so much foreign intervention but when push came to shove he kept us in Afghanistan where we'd been for more than 20+ years. War is big business and defense contractors contribute a lot of money to political candidates. Wars have gone from being necessary to keep the world free and stop truly bad people (WWI, WWII) to being pet projects of politicians to keep their pockets lined (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.)

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Trump was planning on leaving Afghanistan in his second term. How it would have gone is anyone’s guess - certainly no worse than Biden’s exit, but I suspect substantially better, as he has said he never would have abandoned the huge airbase near Kabul (in the middle of the night, no less).

Trump has many weaknesses, but being in thrall to the military-industrial complex is not one of them.

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Leon Trotsky: "You may not be interested in war. But war is interested in you."

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Yes !! Precisely

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