David Frum Profile picture
May 9, 2024 4 tweets 1 min read Read on X
Biden making the same error w/r/t Israel that he previously made with Ukraine: trying to micro-manage from a distance somebody else's defensive war by limiting categories of weapons. This error doesn't limit war. This error prolongs war, by denying the ally the means of success.
I often think the Biden foreign policy would produce more success if its architects were less clever. "Give the Ukrainians/Israelis enough that they don't lose, but not enough to win" is an idea to baffle all lesser minds.
The micro-management of Israel's war is one part of a much bigger scheme: an Arab force to police Gaza, reform of the Palestinian Authority, a Saudi-US defense agreement, etc. etc.

Less clever people would have arrived at a simpler plan: fight Hamas until it's beaten.
Biden will seek re-election in November on a foreign policy record that includes the fiasco of the Afghanistan exit, inconclusive wars in Europe and Middle East, no new trade agreements. He needed one clear success. Israel's war could have been it. But no. Too simple.

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More from @davidfrum

Sep 15
While I was on CNN at 1 pm predicting that the Trump administration would use the Charlie Kirk murder as an excuse to deploy government power against peaceful and legal political competition in 2026 ...
... Vice President Vance and other Trump officials were simultaneously on Charlie Kirk's podcast vowing to use the murder as an excuse to deploy government power against peaceful and legal political competition in 2026. nytimes.com/live/2025/09/1…
1) The Trump administration is corrupt on scale almost beyond comprehending. If they lose control of Congress in 2026, they face all kinds of legal jeopardy. nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/…Image
Read 11 tweets
Aug 25
Military patrols in US cities;

Police raids on homes of government critics;

Mass detentions without due process;

Government taking control of private companies ...
Supply shortages and price increases due to government attacks on free commercial exchange;

The government imposing huge fines on media corporations for First Amendment protected speech that displeased the president ...
Enormous tax increases imposed on Americans without any vote by Congress;

Violent convicted criminals released onto the streets because they directed their violence against persons the president targeted as his personal enemies ...
Read 4 tweets
Jul 2
In a few minutes, @theAtlantic will release video of the episode of David Frum show featuring ex ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink. Audio is already posted on your favorite platform. (thread)
The interview with Ambassador Brink and the opening monologue were recorded before today's news of Trump cut-off of essential weapons of self-defense to Ukraine. But both were recorded in ominous awareness that Trump abandonment of Ukraine was imminent. 2/x
A point I make in opening: while Trump's Putin-subservient abandonment of Ukraine deserves as much anger and scorn as the non-Putin side of the political spectrum can muster ... a word also has to be said about Biden administration's lack of urgency to aid Ukraine in time. 3/x
Read 10 tweets
Jun 20
The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)
See here theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… and here theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… Western museum curators know perfectly well what happens to art works delivered to Nigeria but are intimidated into silence.
The late PJ O'Rourke had a great line: "Just as some things are too strange for fiction, other things are too true for journalism." The fate of artworks delivered to Nigeria is one of those subjects too true for journalism. Fiction and fantasy are reported as moral imperative.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 11
In 2018, protesters against gasoline tax demonstrated in Paris. A radical few set fires near the Arc de Triomphe, creating scenes of chaos for social media platforms - like the iconic image below. (THREAD) Image
To the consumer of social media, it must have looked as if France hovered on the brink of revolution in 2018. Paris engulfed in flames! (2/x) Image
Here's how things looked to Parisians, though. Some agitator poured gasoline on a bike at a distance from the Arc, set it on fire, and then photographed the monument through the black smoke created by burning tires. (3/x) Image
Read 9 tweets
May 28
Here's the decision just won by @IlyaSomin and allies striking down Trump's tariffs as an abuse of presidential emergency authority. It's blinking inspiring. (thread) cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/file…
The Trump administration argued that US federal courts must accept presidential claims of "emergency" at face value, no matter how manifestly nonsensical and in bad faith those claims in fact are. The US Court of International Trade said, in effect, "not so fast."
Courteously but forcefully, the Court demonstrated that Trump's actions are only tenuously related to the pretextual emergency Trump proclaimed. Trade is a congressional domain, and Trump abused the constitutionally limited power Congress delegated him.
Read 5 tweets

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