The forever war/rev V

 President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in February. Pool / Getty Images

The forever war, you know, the one the US has been waging in the Middle East for over 50 plus years continues to run 24/7 with the latest being the "small bombing strike" that killed up to a handful of people  in Syria showing Iran we will not tolerate misbehavior on the part of that country in any way shape or fashion. Said action does nothing to ameliorate a tragic and convoluted situation the US seems to not care or understand but no matter, it's the "resolve" that counts, right?

The campaign will do little to further the United States’ objectives in the Middle East (in as much as they can even be articulated at this point), but it heralds something more dispiriting still: That nearly two decades into a regional war, Washington (perhaps willfully) does not understand the Syria-Iraq-Iran nexus, and that the Biden administration is following a failed blueprint in the Middle East — a reality that was thrown into even sharper relief when the U.S. elected not to punish Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) after the release of a declassified intelligence report that found he was directly responsible for the murder of the Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi.

Alexander cuts the Gordian Knot by Jean-Simon Berthélemy (1743–1811)

This is the tired playbook that Joe Biden has inherited and the one he seems intent on following, no matter how unsuccessful it’s been or how much chaos it has wrought. Ironically, if Biden truly wanted to be a transformative president, he might follow an even older strategy — one pursued by Alexander the Great and the ancient Greeks. He’d withdraw the troops and cut the Gordian Knot that has become U.S. foreign policy, along with America’s losses in the Middle East. Anything less is a formula for forever war, ever more.

Remember, in the long run, it's all about the money, always has been, always will be.