Andrew J. Bacevich, The Trump Administration’s “Diplomacy of Deference”

Andrew J. Bacevich Trump’s actions are constrained by what Saudi and Israeli leaders are willing to tolerate Iran’s seizure of a British-owned oil tanker transiting the Persian Gulf has let loose a fresh round of media war chatter. Yet should another Persian Gulf War actually occur, who would benefit? Not America, that’s for sure. The central theme of present-day American policy regarding Iran is deference. Nominally, US policy is made in Washington. Substantively, it is framed in Riyadh and Jerusalem, with the interests of the United States figuring only minimally…