“The emotional enthusiasm for Ukraine that currently prevails is not a substitute for a foreign policy that will protect American interests or help defend democracies like Israel,” says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. He argues that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a consequence of President Joe Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan and attempts to appease Iran. The administration’s talk of aiding Ukraine “until victory,” which is driven by an emotional response to Russian atrocities, is not the same thing as re-establishing a credible American deterrent against rogue nations.
Tobin explained that figures like Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who have finally discovered in Ukraine a foreign war they can get behind, have no credibility. That’s because they are, at the same time, still advocating for empowering Iran and have no response to the strategic threat posed to the West by Communist China. What’s needed is a measured approach that recognizes that you don’t have to be a neoconservative to support Ukraine and that questioning whether Biden’s policies protect American interests doesn’t make you an isolationist.
He’s then joined by Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz who discussed how recent events had “vindicated neo-conservatism” by reminding us of the dangers of American weakness abroad. He explained that neo-conservatism wasn’t a political movement but a set of realistic ideas that recognized the dangers of failing to respond to threats.
He and Tobin also discussed what enabled former President Donald Trump to choose to pursue a historic pro-Israel policy shift and how the left’s turn against parental rights and in favor of silencing the view of opponents has led them to “stop gaslighting” and “pull back the curtain” on their anti-democratic objectives.
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