Khamenei dead, Obama hardest hit?

This from the Twitter feed of the invariably insightful Richard Fernandez:

The US ordnance raining down on the Islamic republic is demolishing more than buildings. It is smashing down the whole ramshackle architecture of containment, limited conflict and appeasement that was set up to deal with Khomeini without actually solving him. It was a policy slum comprised of institutional aid, refugee management, covert action and bribery spread across Egypt, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Northern Iraq and the Gulf built up piece by piece since 1979. This monstrosity was the proud achievement of bipartisan US administrations and numerous European governments. Many, especially during the Obama administration saw this creation as necessary, even noble. They fed it with cash, pleaded with it not to seek nuclear weapons. In their eyes they were saving the world from what the creature could become. But the patchwork monster -- Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Assad, the IRGC -- was mutating unsustainably. On Oct 7 it became clear to any clear thinker -- that it was rampaging out of control. And it fought perhaps the only force absolute enough to defy it absolutely: Israel. Each JDAM that crashes on Iran's regime does more than pulverize some structure. It tears away a diplomatic achievement of some consequence. It incinerates some European or Beltway program; it cuts short a diplomatic career; it makes a dead letter of some international law. No wonder they hate Trump, the builders of this ramshackle fence. He's smashing the dream but in their defense it was a dream they truly dreamt. -Richard Fernandez (@Wretchardthecat)

Given the constant stream of death emanating from Iran across the world for almost 50 years, one would think this confrontation would have happened sooner. The once-latent narcissistic fantasy that by striking a pose of transcendent sophistication, all actual threats could be made to go away became the express core value of the established order under the administration of the Light Bringer.

Think of all the Western diplomats who wanted to get in on the "peace process" in the Middle East for the last half-century. Promises made by Arafat were largely meaningless--he either did not mean it, or lacked the authority to deliver. But the real goal of the "process" was to get a piece of paper signed and to elbow your way into the official signing ceremony photo to hang in your office. Having Uncle Sam write huge checks to the parties was simply a given and a bargain. (Peak farce was reached when Arafat died and it was revealed that the entire PLO "treasury" was in private, mostly Swiss accounts. The new PLO leadership had to cede the widow Arafat enough cash to keep her Paris condo and lifestyle, from where she presumably continued to support the struggles of the fedayeen from a safe distance.

Recall the negotiating technique of that walking "kick me" sign, John Kerry, who would threaten the Iranians with expressions of disappointment that they refused to accept his latest offer of concessions. Again, the key was some symbolic piece of paper that could be hailed as a diplomatic triumph. The interests of the US and the West in general were of distinctly secondary concern.

And with respect to Iran, recall the idiocy of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. He insisted that the US response to the embassy hostage crisis begin with a pre-emptive surrender of any right to use force. That Carter did not fire him right away was a horrible mistake. Vance's approach guaranteed that the crisis would fester indefinitely. Unfortunately, his resignation in a huff when military action was ordered did not end his idiot legacy in Foggy Bottom.