Thursday, February 7, 2013

Another Response to Rand Paul Speech: “Frankly Bizarre”

I repeat, with his confused wishy-washy foreign policy speech, tone deaf Rand blew up a lot political activists he has been courting.  The Free Beacon writes:
The speech may have also set back Paul’s outreach to the pro-Israel community.

One senior official at a prominent D.C. Jewish organization called it “frankly bizarre” and “outside the bipartisan political and policy consensus.”

“Both Republican and Democratic elected officials all the way up to the president have emphasized that Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons would trigger massive proliferation across the Middle East,” said the official. “The reason containment is off the table is because [containment strategy is] one of the best ways to ensure that a nuclear war actually breaks out.”

Lee Smith, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the real strategic threat during the Cold War was not communist ideology per se but the nuclear-armed nation-state it represented—the Soviet Union.

“I think [Paul’s speech was] a little confused,” said Smith. “The United States is served best when it deals with the world in terms of nation states. … The major strategic threat to American interests right now is the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies.”

Smith also noted that the U.S. containment policy during the Cold War depended on the same kind of proxy wars and arming of foreign fighters that Paul seemed to object to in his speech.

1 comment:

  1. One of two things is happening:
    This is play-acting on the parts of Rand and the neo-cons. Rand isn't saying substantial for or against military interventionism and the neo-cons come out and lightly criticize him. The common man says to himself that Rand isn't so bad, if the neocons are against him. And the neocons know he's one of them, so they have nothing to worry about.

    Or, this is the gentle neocon way of showing Rand that they own him. Their tune will change back to happy, but he's been shown through this episode that he had better tow the line.

    I don't think we'll hear anything from the neocons that would permanently eliminate his chances in 2016. That's the sign that he's 'in' with them.

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