Pollack offered as his “last option,” should earlier “grand bargain” and “carrot and stick” approaches fail, a direct airstrike. In his words: “Finally, and only as part of a new containment of Iran, the United States should look hard at the possibility of waging a targeted air campaign intended to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities and intended to set back the entire program.” That should come, he says, only after US policy-makers determine Iran is “truly nefarious.” Pollack wants the President to have that “arrow in his quiver,” but he believes diplomacy and sanctions will suffice.
Gas is king in the vast expanse of the Pacific. And as the Pentagon has sought to build up its capability to deter China, the Department of Defense has undergone a major rethink about how to get fuel to the region. At the heart of the effort is the U.S. Transportation…