I think this entered into the US' military calculations. The attack on Venezuela was a forerunner to this plan, as it immediately cut China out of the energy loop from the Americas. Combine this with the reclamation of the Panama Canal Zone, and it isolated China from the Caribbean. I don't think China has the desire to fight a war in the Americas, and this does give them a reason to think differently about Taiwan.
While I was aware of the amount of Iran's oil China purchases, I wasn't thinking that far ahead in a possible Taiwan strategy for the United States.
Arab states (even the PA) have been supportive but gratitude is worth its weight in gold so it remains to be seen if they will fulfill the role that Iran was playing in China's energy picture. The Saudi's and emirates are capable of taking a lesson from this as well so maybe they will stay on side. The key thing for us is not to get sucked into nation building. That and not regime change was Bush's fatal error. There will be chaos and probably lots of violence in Iran but boots on the ground would not help them and would hurt us. Air strikes to break up the remnants of the regime and perhaps some arms or electronic support would be OK. Sending in Arabs to do the dirty work would be an error. Israelis would probably be better since Jews and Persian were friendly from the time of Cyrus the Great until 1979.
Like Nixon going to China was the first step in bringing down the Berlin Wall. No one saw it at the time.
It will work in reverse too.
I think this entered into the US' military calculations. The attack on Venezuela was a forerunner to this plan, as it immediately cut China out of the energy loop from the Americas. Combine this with the reclamation of the Panama Canal Zone, and it isolated China from the Caribbean. I don't think China has the desire to fight a war in the Americas, and this does give them a reason to think differently about Taiwan.
While I was aware of the amount of Iran's oil China purchases, I wasn't thinking that far ahead in a possible Taiwan strategy for the United States.
Arab states (even the PA) have been supportive but gratitude is worth its weight in gold so it remains to be seen if they will fulfill the role that Iran was playing in China's energy picture. The Saudi's and emirates are capable of taking a lesson from this as well so maybe they will stay on side. The key thing for us is not to get sucked into nation building. That and not regime change was Bush's fatal error. There will be chaos and probably lots of violence in Iran but boots on the ground would not help them and would hurt us. Air strikes to break up the remnants of the regime and perhaps some arms or electronic support would be OK. Sending in Arabs to do the dirty work would be an error. Israelis would probably be better since Jews and Persian were friendly from the time of Cyrus the Great until 1979.