Analysis

Analyst: US ‘Shooting Ourselves in the Foot’ By Provoking, Escalating Crises Around Globe

20:07 GMT, 31 October 2023
© AP Photo / Evan Vucci
Fantine Gardinier
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The US has entered a crisis of its own making in the last three years, thanks to the foreign policy aims of the neoconservatives who have asserted control over the Biden administration’s State Department, an analyst told Sputnik.
Sputnik
The emergence of the latest crisis in the Middle East, which has started in Israel but threatens to draw in several other regional powers, is just the latest in which the US has forcefully asserted its interest in propping up a useful ally against its enemies there. However, it has come as the US is already deeply embroiled in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and has also committed significant resources and effort into a confrontation with China that has not yet exploded into open conflict.
Retired senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof told Radio Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Tuesday that the US was “shooting ourselves in the foot” by getting itself so deeply embroiled in crises of its own making around the globe, including in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific regions.

“In my opinion, these are all self-manufactured crises put upon by the neoconservatives within the Biden administration - not only internationally, but also domestically," Maloof said. "And in three years, how we could deteriorate so far, so fast, is mind-boggling. And it has to be purposeful. And I'm seeing this accentuated in the policies that we have broadcast to the world internationally, in trying to contain and engineer regime change in Russia. That has failed miserably, Ukraine was just a pawn."

Now we have the Israeli situation. I think there's evidence to show that Netanyahu knew what was happening, but I don't think that he knew what the extent of the attack would be, the way it would be on the seventh of October. So I think that now he's really into it and he has no other choice. Meantime, he's hearing increasing demands for him to step down, and the United States, of course, has moved in at least two carrier strike groups and Marines, and you wonder: what are they going to be used for?" Maloof added.
“I think the whole idea is for deterrence so that Hezbollah doesn't get into the fray. But what's going to be happening this Friday, I'm now told, is that Hassan Nasrallah, who is the secretary general of Hezbollah, will be making a significant statement on Friday. So that's going to be something to listen to and see what direction Hezbollah will go in light of all this. I know he has the support of the Lebanese people as well as the Lebanese army, and those are two significant factors to weigh in. And as Israel continues to do what it's doing in Gaza, it's intensifying the conflict, not diminishing," Maloof said.
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“And then the ultimate goal, of course, is to go after Iran. That has always been Israel's goal, and now that they've got the United States sucked into it, I think that now Netanyahu feels emboldened, notwithstanding the domestic opposition he has.”

“And on top of all that, we have crises that are still looming in the Asia-Pacific. And these, again, are all things that were precipitated by the Biden administration and the neoconservatives at the top, at the State Department. It's been the State Department that has led all of these efforts. And of course, they have Victoria Nuland, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken - these are all neoconservatives that want to use that. They want to push the American version of democracy, of hegemony, around the world," he said.

“And I think what they're realizing is that it is being highly challenged as a result of Russia, China coming together, the role of the BRICS countries, the de-dollarization - again, all brought about by the Biden administration's actions. If we sought to avoid having Russia and China become an alliance, and a military alliance at that, and draw closer together in a Eurasian approach, we perpetuated that with all of our actions. So it's actually we've actually done this to ourselves. And not only did we shoot ourselves in the foot, but we're shooting ourselves in the head. And now we're on a slippery slope. How do you stop what's now occurred? It's going to be a real challenge, and we have no adult leadership in the world right now.”
AnalysisMichael MaloofIsraelChinaHezbollahJoe BidenUkraineneoconservatism
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