Liberal: Forget the ‘Arab Street’
Despite the “concern among foreign policy analysts and officials that if Washington pursues a policy in some part of the world that is unpopular, there will be significant strategic consequences for the United States,” Steven A. Cook argues at The Liberal Patriot, “the United States has never enjoyed broad-based support among Arab publics.” Indeed, Washington was “persistently unpopular well before the first IDF soldier crossed into Gaza.” “Would it be better if Middle Easterners held more favorable views of the United States? Absolutely.” But the nation has “historically achieved its strategic goals in the region” and “the strurm und drang about public opinion in the Arab world” should not be used to prop up an “assumption that Washington’s unpopularity and subsequent isolation will somehow produce strategic failure.”
UN watch: Poisonous ‘Refugee’ Agency
Last week’s discovery of “hundreds of weapons” in a West Bank kindergarten run by the UN Relief and Works Agency adds to the group’s “horrible record” as Hamas’ “partner” in Gaza, explains Jonathan Schanzer at Commentary. That’s important “in the context of the ‘day after debates.’ ” Yes, Gazans will need help after the war, but “UNRWA simply cannot provide that assistance. Another agency — any other agency — should do it.” Beyond that, America needs a “true debate” on UNRWA, which got about $6 billion in US funds through 2018. Despite calls, such as from then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, “to end UNRWA’s mandate,” Team Biden renewed funding in 2021. But now it’s time “to empower another aid organization.” “This should be non-negotiable on the ‘day after.’ ”
From the right: US Navy’s Suicide Problem
“The U.S. Navy has a suicide problem,” roars Luther Ray Abel at National Review, “because it’s consumed with fixing and deploying too few ships too often.” “When ships go to the yard” for repair and maintenance under often-hellish conditions, “sailors kill themselves. The brass know it, the senior enlisted exacerbate it, and the junior enlisted bear it.” “It’s incumbent on the Navy to provide access to qualified help for developing or acute distress” — not to make “the mental health of one’s shipmates the responsibility of some 23-year-old.” “Save the Navy from itself, Congress, and set aside money for rehabilitating shipyard capacity.” “The fleet needs ships, the ships need sailors, and the sailors need help. For the love of God, get it to them.”
Foreign desk: Why Ukrainians Keep Fighting
“It is rare to see Ukrainians saying they should cede the occupied territory in exchange for an end to the bloodshed” because “we have seen before what happens when we ‘compromise’ with Russia,” writes The Spectator’s Svitlana Morenets. “Talk of ‘peace’ or ‘compromise’ is still seen as code for a surrender which would reward rather than punish Vladimir Putin’s atrocities, cede ground and give him the opportunity to come back for the rest later.” “Before there can be any serious talk of a ceasefire, Ukraine needs guarantees that Putin won’t re-arm and return for more. He routinely reneges on promises, as he did in Minsk in 2014 and following the 1994 Budapest memorandum.” So: “Why would anyone ever believe Putin, given his track record?”
‘Protest’ watch: Lock Up the Bridge-Blockers
Monday, “New York’s permanent ‘protesting’ class demonstrated its tactical approach for the year: to make us miserable on our daily trips” as a few hundred “Shut It Down for Palestine” activists closed Manhattan bridges and a tunnel, groans City Journal’s Nicole Gelinas. Cops shouldn’t stand by until the damage is done: “Blocking key transportation corridors is not ‘peaceful protest.’ ” Mayor Adams should rescind the settlement that prevents the NYPD from being able to “kettle” marchers and DAs should stop “dropping charges.” If disruptive protesters continue “facing no consequences, they’ll keep on shutting it down — and untrammeled low-level lawbreaking will soon become a higher-level problem.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board