America's Rodney Dangerfield Foreign Policy

No matter what he did, nothing earned him the “respect” of family, friends or audiences.

If you don’t remember Rodney Dangerfield, for over 40 years, he was a stand-up comedian, regular on talk shows, and actor in movies and television. His schtick centered around the line, “I can’t get no respect.” No matter what he did, nothing earned him the “respect” of family, friends or audiences.

Today’s American foreign policy feels just like that.

Two glaring examples are worth noting, as they come from such a diverse audience it’s breathtaking.

The first audience is the Houthi. Whether they are “rebels,” as often characterized, or “Iranian proxies” is immaterial. They are launching attacks on international shipping and causing havoc in the Red Sea. While we send million-dollar missiles and advanced fighter jets to interdict their Iranian-supplied drones, they taunt America with threats and pledges of revenge. They boast of indifference to our firepower. Having survived the relentless aerial bombing campaign of the Saudis for years, it’s no wonder the Houthi are fearless. Over 400,000 people are believed to have died in their not-yet-over civil war, perhaps they feel they have little to lose. They are the Ghost Shirts of the Gulf.

It is clear that Iran is goading them on, using their lack of statehood as a lever to humiliate the “great Satan” that has obsessed the Islamic Mullahs since their ascendance to power in 1979. Like the Lilliputians that tied down Gulliver, Iran loves to hide behind small time others to annoy and destroy its main enemy. So America has to swat down the flies Iraq’s Shiite militias and Lebanese Hezbollah. It is hard to know where to aim the tomahawk missiles with all these needy targets.

One of the reasons for our engagement, besides oil… which actually we don’t really need from the Mid-East… is to support our democratic and longtime partner in shared values, Israel. Ever since 1947, when Harry Truman endorsed the state of Israel, America has had the Jewish state’s back. Even in 1973, when the Arab oil embargo brought shockingly-priced gasoline to America’s pumps, America stood with Israel.

Here we are again, defending Israel in its war with Hamas. America supports Israel in the court of world opinion (one always biased against it and the very concept of Zionism.) We supply the arms needed to bomb and ground assault Gaza as well as all sorts of intelligence intercepts and assessments. Without American assistance, it is doubtful Israel would have survived all the invasions against it since 1947.

What does this alliance member get in return? Statements from messianic collation firebrand and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir sprouting off about reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza or relocating the Palestinians there to Egypt or Africa. Does this help the American defense of Israel to the world? Does this empower the global antisemites marching in capitals from London to Peshawar? It does not. One would think a phone call from Anthony Blinken to Netanyahu telling him to shut Ben-Gvir up would do the trick. Clearly the messianic Zealots in the Kensett don’t fear the current administrations wrath or even care if it aids the anti-Zionist lobby.

One could argue this Lilliputian delight goes back to 1951 and the Korean War’s 38^th parallel stalemate. The US defeated the two axis powers ending WWll. They surrendered unconditionally and ceremoniously signed documents acknowledging their defeat. Since then, the story has sadly been one of blurred conflicts. Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan, not to mention a dozen smaller engagements like Somalia. The perception, not mistakenly made, is America cannot or does not know how to win a clear military victory.  An outright victory that ends in the surrender of its foes. Even today’s Ukraine headlines reinforce this narrative. The failure to arm and fund Ukraine with the force it needs to soundly block and defeat “the evil empire” in spite of a US GDP being 14 times the Russia’s must confuse our allies.

Consciously or unconsciously, this is what is behind the Houthi and Ben-Gvir defiance. Both see little downside in thumbing their noses at us.

We will see how this all plays out. However, as an old proverb goes: it is often a mistake to anger a wounded tiger.

Rodney exited stage left without ever receiving any “respect.” Let’s hope America does not follow that cue.