Response to Hamas Invasion: The World Needs a Strong America

After getting in an Uber this summer in Germany, I learned that the driver was Iraqi, and he was delighted that we were Americans. He was very curious but in fact concerned. He recounted to us how optimistic his community in Iraq was in 2003 that the “Americans could pull it off” by deposing Saddam Hussein and just how much the rest of the world looks to the United States for stability. He then emphasized the growing concern in Germany over the war in Ukraine, his concern over the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and overall European concern with increasing isolationist sentiment within the United States. The last note he addressed to us upon our leaving was “the world needs a strong America.”

It has become quite apparent over the last several years that the world has entered a new phase, and the current status quo cannot be self-sustaining. Hopefully, with the recent invasion of Israel in addition to the ongoing one in Ukraine, this fact becomes more recognized. However, to realistically address this development, changes must be made within the domestic sentiment of the West. The current isolationist movement amongst certain members of Congress is inherently dangerous, and the persistent hesitancy of key European countries, including Germany, to divert significant amounts of resources to their militaries is perilous. 

In a Wall Street Journal article from January, Gordon Lubold records Seth Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as stating in an interview, “The bottom line is the defense industrial base, in my judgment, is not prepared for the security environment that now exists.” Over the past decades, the American defense industry has experienced significant consolidation, and Jones adds that it is “better suited to a peacetime environment.” As the West devolves into debate over who is to blame for the ongoing conflict in Israel and whether to offer continued support to Ukraine, the most relevant takeaway from the recent developments in Israel is that the United States cannot exclusively shift its focus to the Pacific region as it has been attempting to do, and Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and organizations such as Hamas, will not operate independently of each other. For instance, in a podcast with the Hoover Institute, host Peter Robinson refers to a leaked memorandum from Air Force General Mike Minahan referring to the intensifying situation in Taiwan, “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. United States presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Chinese President Xi Jinping a distracted America. Taiwan's presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi Jinping a reason to attack.” With large swathes of Americans expressing discontent over American support for Ukraine or Israel, one can understand Xi Jinping’s rationale, and one can further agree with General Minehan as stockpiles resources are diverted towards Ukraine and returned to the Middle East.  

It is my opinion then that the current international situation is not only no longer a peacetime environment but is in fact a Cold War environment, and a return to George Kennan era policy is necessitated by the wars in Ukraine and Israel and Chinese agitation in the Indo-Pacific. It is, therefore, time for attention within the United States to refocus outward, for a policy of containment to regain its traction, and for the defense industrial base to be rebuilt. These requests are not merely conjured within the American foreign policy establishment but rather those millions around the world, including my Iraqi-German driver, the citizens of Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, and numerous other countries, whose opportunities for stability and prosperity necessitate them.