Grey zone is the new black

[Valin]

Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Too many smart people don’t grasp that a war is being waged against us

Clifford D. May

Jan. 22 2020

You heard it last week from smart people on both the left and right. President Trump’s droning of Qassem Soleimani put America “on the brink of another war,” wrote Martin Indyk, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Echoed Fox News’ Tucker Carlson: “It looked like we were on the brink there!”

Let’s think about that, shall we? Gen. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, an army that operates beyond Iran’s borders, hunting and killing anyone and everyone Iran’s rulers deem enemies.

(Snip)

Here’s what we should know by now: Grey-zone war is the new normal, the new black, if you will. After four decades, we ought to have settled on a strategy to counter this threat.

But when a distinguished scholar on the left and a popular television host on the right don’t even grasp the reality – insisting instead that striking back at those attacking us could put us on “the brink” of war — it becomes apparent why we have made so little progress in this conflict.

[Valin]