Common Sense
COMMON SENSE: Ukraine has just completed a brilliant and daring drone raid attack deep inside of Russia, hitting major military targets, destroying Russian assets on a massive scale. From Ukraine’s perspective, what they have done is good news, but it’s probably not good news concerning the prospects for a peaceful resolution to the war. Russia is certain to hit back hard, violently and fast.
The most interesting thing, however, is the fact that Ukraine kept the entire operation secret from the Trump administration. I’m sure they did this, fearing that President Trump, who seems to be more invested in peace than either Zelensky or Putin, would have nixed the assault.
But, why is that so interesting, you night ask?
In my opinion, it’s because Israel will be looking to see what Trump does about this secret attack. Will he punish the Ukrainians in any way for doing it without consulting him, perhaps by withholding weaponry, or will he cheer what they have done because of its success?
The answer is important, not so much where Ukraine is concerned, but where Iran is. That’s because Iran is within days of developing nuclear weapons, which neither Trump nor Israel’s Netanyahu intend to allow.
The difference between what Trump wants, which is to negotiate with Iran to stop enriching uranium, and Netanyahu’s position, which is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities by air to end the threat. To this end, Israel is keeping a keen eye on how Trump deals with Ukraine. If he doesn’t punish them, or if it’s just a slap on the wrist, then Israel might do the same thing. They might attack Iran without informing the USA first, to keep Trump from nixing the idea.
With Iran so close to having a bomb, we won’t have long to wait for an answer. It will come quickly.
I would like to think Trump can get the Iranians to stop building nukes, but I’m not sure that he can. Even if they say they will stop, we cannot take them at their word. Nor will we ever be able to keep an eye on them as successfully as we need to. They are notorious liars and sneaks. So, I lean toward Netanyahu’s solution, even though there could be unanticipated consequences that could come from it. Trump has two major messes on his hands, neither of his making, but he will be judged by how successful he is at resolving both.
—Jack Watts