The most charitable explanation for Joe Biden’s call for the easing of sanctions on Iran is that it is a combination of virtue-signaling and opportunism, the standard political admixture prescribed by spin doctors for any campaign season.
After all, the former U.S. vice president needs to embrace some of the positions of Bernie Sanders to finish off his sole surviving rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. He also needs to appease the extreme left of the party, where “radicals” such as Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argue that Iran should get sanctions relief in order to deal with the coronavirus epidemic.
But such charity is misplaced. When it comes to the Middle East, Biden has a long history of endorsing woolly and reckless ideas, and not only when he’s run for office.
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