By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2024-10-01 23:52:04 | Updated at 2024-10-02 02:31:21
2 hours ago
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was ridiculed Tuesday over his magazine essay lauding the Harris-Biden administration’s foreign policy strategy that was published the same day Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel.
“The Biden administration’s strategy has put the United States in a much stronger geopolitical position today than it was four years ago,” Blinken wrote in a piece for Foreign Affairs magazine, as tensions in the Middle East escalated.
“We increased diplomatic pressure and strengthened the US military’s force posture to deter and constrain Tehran,” the 62-year-old top State Department official wrote in another section of the ill-timed essay, which went on to slam former President Donald Trump for exiting the Iran nuclear deal.
“We demonstrated to Iran that there was a path back to a mutual return to compliance — if Iran was willing to take it — while maintaining a robust sanctions regime and our commitment that Iran will never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon,” Blinken said of the Harris-Biden administration’s policy toward the Islamic Republic.
Blinken’s essay landed with a thud on social media.
“Yikes,” Donald Trump Jr., wrote on X, sharing snippets of the secretary of state’s piece.
“Has anything aged so bad so fast?” read a tweet from the Libs of TikTok X account.
“Does anyone have worse political instincts or timing than this disastrous regime?” another social media user chimed in.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha likened the glowing essay to “an end zone dance by Blinken” published “as the world burns.”
The top US diplomat’s essay also dropped a day after Israel announced that it has begun ground incursions into neighboring Lebanon to root out Hezbollah terrorists.
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Blinken wrote that the Harris-Biden administration “has been working tirelessly with partners in the Middle East and beyond to end the conflict and suffering in Gaza, find a diplomatic solution that enables Israelis and Lebanese to live in safety on both sides of the border, manage the risk of a wider regional war, and work toward greater integration and normalization in the region, including between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”
“These efforts are interdependent,” he argued. “Without an end to the war in Gaza and a time-bound, credible path to statehood that addresses the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations and Israel’s security needs, normalization cannot move forward.”
“But if these efforts succeed, normalization would join Israel to a regional security architecture, unlock economic opportunities across the region, and isolate Iran and its proxies,” Blinken added, noting that he saw “glimmer of such integration” in April, when Iran last launched a volley of drones and ballistic missiles toward Israel.
