Biden suddenly coy amid the shattered ruins of his lasting legacy

Alameen Templeton
US President Joe Biden is suddenly adamant he won’t “negotiate in public” when asked if he supports a much-publicised Israeli plan to attack Iran’s oil facilities.
His new-found coyness contrasts with his clear lack of concern over the past two days when he casually dropped hints like confetti that that was exactly what he was discussing with his Zionist counterparts.
“I don’t negotiate in public,” Biden told reporters Thursday when asked if he was telling Israel not to attack Teheran’s oil infrastructure, TRT World reports.
Asked if he concerned that an attack could raise oil prices, he said, “If a hurricane hits, prices are going to go up. I don’t know; who knows.”
Conversion to coyness
That is hardly going to reassure his Gulf allies. Keen as they always are to make a quick buck from rising global oil prices, they would never be comfortable with anything that could jeopardise stability in the Persian Gulf.
So, Biden’s sudden conversion to coyness on the subject is not going to reassure anyone. If anything, it is likely to set alarm bells ringing across Arabia as Israel’s desperate struggles to escape its dark destiny threaten to embroil the Holy Land in a widening circle of war.
Axios reported two days ago Israeli officials were threatening to target Iran’s oil facilities to avenge Tuesday’s missile retaliation for the assassination of top resistance leaders. Teheran warned at the end of its missile strike that it would target Israeli infrastructure if Tel Aviv tried to hit back.
Biden’s dead hand
That means any tit-for-tat outbreak between the two foes is likely to turn into a very expensive exercise that could escalate very quickly. It is unlikely the Arabian neighbourhood will escape unscathed.
But Biden still seems content to maintain his dead hand on the Arabian tiller, leaving control in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s death grip. Netanyahu knows his political fate is dependent on keeping the war going for as long as possible; a criminal trial and genocide prosecutions likely will follow as soon as he lets go.
So the fate of world’s biggest source of oil and inflation remains in his hands, with Biden steadfastly refusing to restrain Netanyahu in any way.
Biden was also asked why he had not spoken to Netanyahu in recent days. He replied: “Because there’s no action going on right now.”
“No action” presumably covers the ignored Gaza genocide, mounting atrocities in the West Bank, and a widening war on the Lebanon border.
Biden is instead content to leave the initiative in Israeli hands while he continues funnelling the weaponry fuel that breathes spirit and blood into Tel Aviv’s genocide machine. He fails to understand that it is in the lulls that he can exercise leadership; jumping in only after Israeli “action” is the surest way to ensure any effective US ability to keep control of Arabia continues slipping further and further away.
Skop, skiet and murder
Israel recently assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and a senior Iranian military official in Beirut strikes, two months after assassinating Hamas chief peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
News reports from Lebanon say Nasrallah had consented to a 21-day ceasefire before he was assassinated by Tel Aviv. Beirut says it had informed US and France about Nasrallah’s stance.
That means it will be difficult for anyone in Arabia to view the US’s role as a “mediator” in peace talks as anything besides as a time-wasting mechanism intended to ensure Israel continues getting away with murder for as long as possible.
Gung-ho posture
The US has said it will ensure Iran faces “severe consequences” for its Tuesday missile strikes.
Biden’s earlier comments on oil prices and an attack on oil facilities caused a surge in global oil prices. That will put pressure on consumers’ pockets and his contrived casualness on the issue may come back to haunt Democrats in an increasingly fractious US election race.
It’s likelier Biden is responding to commercial pressures to climb down from his position than from a genuine concern for human life, but he does appear to be relenting from his previous gung-ho posture.
He late on Thursday opined “we can avoid” all-out war in Arabia: “I don’t believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it,” Axios says he told reporters at the White House when asked how confident he was that full-blown war in the region could be averted.
He added: “But there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet.” Whether he does it, remains to be seen.