That’s the thread Ana Kasparian pulls through this conversation.
In Kusra, Israeli settlers besieged roughly 15 Palestinians for more than a week. Almost nothing happened until a Palestinian-American resident raised a U.S. flag over his home. Reuters covered it. The U.S. ambassador called the settlers terrorists. It took an American passport to make a story impossible to ignore.
Then Israel struck Turkish military assets in Syria. Iran hit the UAE. Tehran criminalized unauthorized contact with foreign media and institutions.
And Washington keeps moving as if the old rules still apply.
Trump entered the war knowing U.S. interceptor stocks were already low. He tells Americans higher gas prices are the price of denying Iran a weapon, then praises Kim Jong Un days later.
Ana doesn’t see some hidden strategic calculation. She sees a president who keeps making decisions without seriously accounting for what follows.
Her biggest concern is Israel’s assumption that the U.S. backstop will always be there.
But the backstop is being depleted. Gulf bases have been hit. Iran is emboldened. The margin for another escalation is shrinking.
At that point, “existential threat” becomes a very dangerous phrase.
Because if nobody is actually steering, everyone starts calling their next move necessary.
@AnaKasparian
