U.S. policy should reflect this reality. It should abandon the fiction that by “strengthening state institutions” it somehow weakens Hezbollah. Instead, the Trump administration should freeze all assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces. Moreover, U.S. law requires imposing sanctions on agencies and instrumentalities of foreign states that move money to Hezbollah. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health now fits this category. The U.S. should thus block international funds to the ministry. While the Lebanese will surely protest that the new minister is not technically a card-carrying member of Hezbollah, there is no doubt as to whom he represents. There is similarly little doubt that Hezbollah will staff the ministry. Washington must act accordingly.
In the real world, hard work and sacrifice will be required to make America great again. President Trump’s National Security Strategy left no doubt about that. The commander-in-chief, as he contemplates the next two years, would be well advised to re-read it, along with the many thoughtful recommendations provided by my colleagues in this volume.
No faltan las pruebas. Existen, y no se pueden negar con retórica política. A muchos gobernantes paraguayos le falta mayor coraje para reconocer que su país se transformó en un paraíso de malandros con la complicidad y la bendición de algunas de sus máximas autoridades electas por el voto popular, que hablan mucho, pero hacen muy poco para cambiar la situación”.