{"id":11885,"date":"2019-07-03T08:23:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T15:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11885"},"modified":"2019-07-03T08:23:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T15:23:35","slug":"iran-and-the-levels-of-global-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/iran-and-the-levels-of-global-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran and the Levels of Global Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the current American\u2013Iran stand-off are a number of global players. That is hardly new, but what is novel is that, for the first time in decades, there\u2019s almost no power that can obstruct or alter U.S. efforts to confront Iranian aggressions in America\u2019s own time and fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, the United States is almost immune from the sort of pressures that usually coalesce to dictate, modify, or thwart U.S. decision-making in the Middle East. Such liberation from outside coercion is singularly unusual in the post-war American overseas experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Muslim World<br><\/strong>Usually in any showdown with a Muslim state of the Middle East, especially a large, theocratic country like Iran, the United States would be subject to the usual Islamic boilerplate slurs of Islamophobia, racism, imperialism, and colonialism, and we\u2019d see popular anti-American unrest. But in the Muslim world, Iran is probably more unpopular than even the Trump administration. Renegade allies such as Hezbollah, Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rump remains of Syria, and Hamas are reminders that Iran has no friends. Hatred for Tehran in the Middle East transcends the ancient Persian\u2013Arab and Shiite\u2013Sunni fault lines, and it\u2019s fueled by 40 years of Iran-backed terrorism, bullying, and backing of insurgent movements throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/07\/us-iran-standoff-trump-has-more-choices-than-previous-presidents\/\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review In the current American\u2013Iran stand-off are a number of global players. That is hardly new, but what is novel is that, for the first time in decades, there\u2019s almost no power that can obstruct or alter U.S. efforts to confront Iranian aggressions in America\u2019s own time and fashion. In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-35H","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10738,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/americas-indispensable-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":0},"title":"America\u2019s Indispensable Friends","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 As long as the U.S. remains good to weaker but humane states located in dangerous neighborhoods, it will remain great as well. \u00a0 The world equates American military power with the maintenance of the postwar global order of free commerce, communications, and travel.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kurds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kurds","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/kurds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9862,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-three-headed-hydra-of-the-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":1},"title":"The Three-Headed Hydra of the Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Trump has inherited a matrix of problems that primarily stem from Iran, Russia, and ISIS. The abrupt Obama administration pre-election pullout from Iraq in 2011, along with the administration\u2019s failed reset with Russia and the Iran deal, created a three-headed hydra in the Middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ISIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ISIS","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/isis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7848,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-middle-easts-maze-of-alliances\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":2},"title":"The Middle East\u2019s Maze of Alliances","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s increasingly difficult to navigate the web of transitory enemies and allies in the region. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Try figuring out the maze of enemies, allies, and neutrals in the Middle East. In 2012, the Obama administration was on the verge of bombing the forces\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Middle East&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via NRO","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/pic_giant_091114_hanson-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9704,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-resilience-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":3},"title":"The Resilience of Israel","author":"Megan Ring","date":"January 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Despite the mess around it, Israel is in its best geostrategic position in decades. Israel would seem to be in a disastrous position, given the inevitable nuclear capabilities of Iran and the recent deterioration of its relationship with the United States, its former patron\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Russia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Russia","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/russia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2612,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/missing-our-moment-in-iran\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":4},"title":"Missing Our Moment in Iran","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Last month, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a rigged presidential election. Our president was extremely cautious in his initial criticism of the Iranian government's fierce crackdown against the protestors. At first, President Obama said that the United\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;July 2009&quot;","block_context":{"text":"July 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/july-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8720,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-road-to-middle-east-perdition\/","url_meta":{"origin":11885,"position":5},"title":"The Road to Middle East Perdition","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"From reset to the Iran deal, Obama\u2019s mistakes are so comprehensive they almost look deliberate. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online How did Vladimir Putin \u2014 with his country reeling from falling oil prices, possessing only a second-rate military, in demographic free-fall, and suffering from an array of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Russia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Russia","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/russia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Bill Pugliano\/Getty)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pic_giant_081814_SM_Barack-Obama-G_1-500x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11886,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11885\/revisions\/11886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}