President Obama Should Initiate a Naval Blockade of Iran
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America's naval power big stick approach blockade of Iran Israel Iran Israel's future Israeli army Israeli lobbying mullah thugs Neville Chamberlain Obama Obama Iran Obama Theodore Roosevelt potential Holocaust Theodore Roosevelt Iran Theodore Roosevelt Israel Theodore Roosevelt Obama Tom Allon Tom Allon Mayor Zionist dream
Iranian naval vessel. Photo: wiki commons.
At my family’s Rosh Hashanah dinner table, as I assume happened at countless others around the world, we discussed Israel, Iran, the conflagration in the Middle East and President Obama’s dilemma in this crucial election season.
Our Rosh Hashanah was hosted by my 92-year-old Romanian uncle, a Holocaust survivor, whose love for Israel knows no bounds. His daughter, my cousin Ester, is a top official at AIPAC, the powerful Israeli lobbying group in DC. His son, Peter, moved to Israel in his 20′s, and the youngest of his three children just finished her tenure in the Israeli army.
This backdrop led me to think deeply about Israel’s future and the Jewish people’s perilous past, much of which is defined by the Holocaust, a tragedy of epic proportions that happened just 70 years ago and which directly impacted my parents (they lost their parents, siblings and others in the death camps).
The founding of Israel in 1948 is the only silver lining that came out of the tragic events in Europe in the 1930′s and 40′s. Israel today represents for every Jew worldwide a realization of a Zionist dream and a life raft in case anti-Semitism rears its ugly head again in the world.
Israel has been a steadfast ally of America’s and it now needs that loyalty reciprocated like never before. A Third Reich-like regime in Iran has vowed to wipe out Israel if it can and it is now getting close to developing a weapon of mass destruction.
And once again the world silently stands by, watching in slow motion as a potential Holocaust unfolds before our eyes.
But there is a way to potentially head off this inevitable conflict.
Theodore Roosevelt, one of the greatest presidents in American history, famously said: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Roosevelt also knew that flexing America’s naval power was a practical embodiment of his famous aphorism.
Now President Obama is facing a Theodore Roosevelt moment. He must start using that big stick.
Or he will find that our most loyal and reliable ally, Israel, will be forced into a corner and any unilateral action by Israel will not be good for the Middle East or the world.
So here’s a thought: why doesn’t President Obama initiate a naval blockade of Iran and finally force Iran’s mullah thugs to abandon their nuclear ambitions?
By choking off the sea lanes in and out of the Persian Gulf, the American blockade will exercise the big stick approach to diplomacy.
Not one rocket or bullet need be fired. Just an exercise of naval military power that will finally tell the leaders of Iran that we mean business and will not stand idly by as the clock runs down on Israel.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton can prove that they have drawn the right lessons from history: that they are heirs of Theodore Roosevelt, not Neville Chamberlain.
The world is watching.
Tom Allon, the son of Holocaust survivors, is a Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City in 2013.
12:22 am
Easier said than done.Though there are indeed few Iranian oil ports the general Iranian coastline extends for nearly 600 miles-of which about 200 are beyond the Strait of Hormuz.There are shore-to-ship missile batteries along the coast and on some Islands such as Abu Musa and Qeshm near the Strait.
But beyond the tactical there is the Political.A blocade can be seen as an Act of War…We “Quarantined” Cuba..which posed a direct near threat to this nation- the imposition of weapons for which we would have no time to react.
Many nations carry oil through the Strait many on ships of their own flag, a complex charter arrangement with another nations flag,…Perhaps a Greek owned ship contracted to a Malaysian firm flying a Liberian flag..
It does get complex..
Beyond that much of the oil goes to our supposed “allies” who do not adhere to the sanctions-much of the oil goes to our Far East friends as well as China
5:17 am
Sadly, while most of the world is watching, almost no one cares, especially Obama. This article is based on the assumption that Obama does not want to be the new Neville Chamberlain, but that is a false assumption. Time and time again he allies himself with terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. Even though most Arabs in the region would like to see Iran contained, Obama will not act. He hates Israel, he does not like Jews, and he does like terrorists (except for Al Quaida). I wish it were possible to convince Obama, and his favorite puppet to stand up. But, the fact is, neither of them wants to stand up, they are very happy sitting and watching, like the rest of the world and not caring, like most of the rest of the world.
3:02 am
Jews like me don’t need the protection of right wing jews like you! Iran is no threat to Isreal. How long can right wing jews avoid making peace with Palestinians through schemes like this only god knows…
4:16 pm
And what happens when one of the Iranian ships fires a missle at one f the US ships, or one of the Iranian subs torpedos anUS ship? Is Tommy boy ready for one hell of a war with missle attacks on Israel and US bases in the Middle EAst and Europe? Is Tommy boy ready to have all the oil that normally comes through choked off fast?
This sounds as cool as Romney saying he wants to see a no fly zone established in Syria–with a pledge to not bomb Syria!! Duh! You will need HEAVY bombing to pave the way for a no fly zone.
Both Tommy boy and Mitt seem to have gone to the same school on military matters like the above.
4:13 pm
The details of an Israeli attack on Iran are revealed in Jonathan Bloomfield’s award-winning book, “Palestine.”