OPINION:
“Discretion” is a word with multiple shades of meaning. It describes judgment based on experience as well as behavior governed by fear of offending. Applied to current U.S. dealings on the global state, the nuances vanish. President Biden’s attempt to rehabilitate the moribund Iran nuclear agreement combines his half-century of high-level governance with the weak-kneed posture of a beggar. Discretion, Biden-style, has all the look of concession.
The Department of State disclosed Friday that the United States has waived economic sanctions the U.S. had imposed on Iran’s civil nuclear program. Hopes are that the action can revive the 2015 pact signed by then-President Barack Obama and canceled by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, owing to its failure to halt the Islamic regime’s pursuit of nuclear weaponry. U.S. diplomats steered away from calling the move “a concession,” rather describing it as “a policy discretion.”
By any name, the Biden waiver is a major win for Iran, giving the Islamic state access to $29 billion in frozen funds held abroad. The step also gives other nations a green light to help Iran complete its nuclear program. While always insisting its intentions are peaceful, the regime is reportedly within weeks of producing enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb. If a doomsday weapon is the intent, only the naive will be surprised.
Reckoning Mr. Biden craves a consequential deal to match Mr. Obama’s, the hardline mullahs that control Iran have sized up the president as an easy mark. After all, Mr. Biden had knuckled under to the steely Taliban in Afghanistan, triggering a panicky surrender and helter-skelter withdrawal characterized as the most disgraceful debacle in U.S. military history.
Other global adversaries also see opportunity in Mr. Biden’s “policy discretion.” In short order, Russian President Vladimir Putin has perched divisions on Ukraine’s borders, poised to revert its neighbor from a NATO wanna-be state to a Soviet-era buffer zone. And Chinese President Xi Jinping, having finished digesting formerly free Hong Kong, likewise is now busy probing Taiwan’s preparedness for a long-dreaded invasion.
Speculation is rife that either leader — or both — could unleash his forces once the Beijing Olympics conclude. They may figure that Mr. Biden, who won’t secure his own borders, has little moral authority to wield when others overrun theirs.
The Biden buckle is giving rein to the sort of turmoil that characterized the so-called “Arab Spring” that delegitimized the Obama peace narrative. It stands in stark contrast to the muscular demeanor of the recent Trump interlude. Even his harshest critics cannot deny that the world was more placid and peaceful when Mr. Trump helmed the ship of state.
Americans have sensed the disparity. Consequently, the president’s job approval on foreign policy stands at a dismal 37%, according to Real Clear Politics.
It is said that “discretion is the better part of valor.” Discretion that resembles the concession Mr. Biden has made to Tehran, though, is a reminder that “weakness breeds contempt.”
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