Joe Biden: The Perfect Diplomatic Weapon!

Joe Biden: The Perfect Diplomatic Weapon!

Joe Biden: The Perfect Diplomatic Weapon!

A mostly political weblog.
July 7 2009 8:40 PM

Joe Biden: The Perfect Diplomatic Weapon!

Marc Lynch of FP suggests that Joe Biden committed "the worst foreign policy blunder of the Obama administration" in seeming to give the green light to an Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. "Aggressive pushback" is called for, declares Lynch.  Biden needs to "issue a strong clarification immediately"!   ... But when you think about it, if you wanted to scare the Iranians without credibly committing the United States, isn't Biden the perfect person for the job? I mean, it's just Joe Biden! He could be actually enunciating Obama administration policy. Or he could be winging it! Or it could be just another gaffe.  Who knows? The Iranians don't. They can't dismiss the threat, and have to be worried, but can't be sure whether to expect a strike or not. Meanwhile, no credible U.S. spokesman has said anything especially bellicose. That's exactly what we want, no? ...

Strategic ambiguity, I think they call it. Everything Biden says is by definition ambiguous! He's an unreliable narrator.  The trick is making it strategic. But the Obama brahmins would be crazy not to try to use this asset. When you've got lemons ....

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P.S.: Lynch worries that the Israelis might "[take] up the offer" and attack. But presumably the U.S. has ways of directly communicating to Israel that it doesn't have the green light, or that it does. ...

Update: Obama says the U.S. has "absolutely not" given Israel a green light to attack Iran. Guess it's just that crazy Biden! ... Or is it? ... And Obama didn't rule out a "green light" in the future. ...  Maybe Biden was on to something? ... Iran still doesn't know for sure, do they? Which is the point. ...  6:30 P.M.

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Admit it, Mediaite is a lot better than you thought it would be . ... P.S.: I'm a Dan Abrams skeptic--he seems in love with himself, and I don't trust him--but on a bad day his conflict of interest in using journalists to advise corporate clients on how to work the media isn't as bad as Howie Kurtz's (covering CNN, which not only pays him an ongoing second salary but is what makes him famous ). ... 6:28 P.M.

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