Iran has been strengthened

[bemildred]

He casts this in rhetoric of resolve and determination, fear and doubt, which I find tedious; but nevertheless makes some interesting remarks.

The American fiasco in Iraq and the 34 days of pointless fighting in Lebanon have engendered fatigue over the use of force in the United States. A confrontation with Iran means another dramatic rise in gasoline prices, which are already very high. The statements made two months ago about economic sanctions against Iran under the auspices of the Security Council are now dissolving rapidly.

An American friend who holds a senior position, and who has been steeped for years in the secrets of the diplomatic effort over Iran, told me this week that he has never been this depressed, as a result of the West's inability to act with determination on the issue of nuclear proliferation. He cannot detect in any Western capital a leadership with the determination and the public support to take action to stop Iran's nuclearization. The only capital in which he discerns determined leadership with a clear strategy and direction is Tehran.

There is a feedback mechanism between Iranian belligerence and Western defeatism. Just as Iran today is more deterring than deterred, the reverse is true of the West. Just as Hassan Nasrallah likened Israel to a spiderweb, the Iranians now see the West as a dog that barks, but does not bite. The Western nations' inability to enforce the Security Council resolution on Iran is the clearest expression of this syndrome.

Had Israel beaten Hezbollah, this might have endowed the West with a bit of confidence in a confrontation with Iran. Instead, Israel's failure deepened the West's fatigue syndrome along the entire front.

Haaretz