Dunleavy claims Trump's war a ‘strategic master stroke’

President Trump’s decision to start a war with Iran is a “strategic master stroke,” according to this press release Gov. Mike Dunleavy got the Wall Street Journal to publish.

Right.

Dunleavy, who will soon need a new job, sees a master strategist at work, setting off a regional war with a growing death toll that is spreading suffering to millions with consequences that no one can predict.

But tell us Mike about the grand strategy.

“Combined with U.S. pressure on Venezuela, the war affects Beijing’s access to the discounted oil on which the Chinese economy depends while potentially reshaping energy markets and the balance of power globally,” writes Dunleavy, a strategic master stroker.

On Sunday, Trump said he wants the Chinese to help end the Strait of Hormuz blockade, which Dunleavy would surely agree is another genius move.

Then comes the point: Dunleavy says that Trump’s brilliant war will make Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. more willing to pay to build the Alaska LNG pipeline.

According to Dunleavy, “the project is becoming a reality” because of the non-binding agreements that Glenfarne is touting as proof that the pipeline will be built soon.

Dunleavy now claims that gas will be exported by 2030, a timeline that no one should trust.

When Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other nations reach the definite conclusion that LNG exports from the Middle East will not resume in months, years or decades, they may agree to invest tens of billions in an Alaska project. They are not at that point yet.

In his State of the State speech, Dunleavy said: “President Trump said, and I quote, that he has secured ‘unprecedented funding’ from South Korea and Japan through his trade deals to develop the Alaska LNG Project.”

Trump says a lot of things that Dunleavy repeats. Trump has not secured unprecedented funding from South Korea and Japan to pay for the pipeline.

The master stroker claims that Trump’s new war in Iran “won’t be the last conflict with massive geopolitical ramifications,” suggesting that Taiwan will be attacked by China and LNG from Alaska would be a safe alternative. That’s a foolish claim. If Taiwan is attacked by China, there would be no safe alternative to get LNG to the island.

Meanwhile, this week Dunleavy says he might finally release the bill he first mentioned more than three months ago to give Glenfarne a 90 percent break on property taxes. This tax break is essential for the project, according to Dunleavy, gas line lobbyist Mark Begich, Rep. Nick Begich the Third and others.

They say that it is essential to approve the tax break because 10 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. There will be 100 percent of nothing without the tax break, they say.

There won’t be much enthusiasm for those who ask whether 20 percent or 30 percent might be viable, though it’s obvious Glenfarne would prefer the lower rate.

The delay in introducing the bill, giving the Legislature little time to review the details, may reflect an inability to get the municipal governments of the North Slope, Mat-Su and Kenai to agree on the size of the proposed tax cut.

One of the issues that will come up is whether Dunleavy and this Legislature will be able to bind future elected officials for decades with a contract that will establish payments instead of taxes.

But don’t worry. The war in Iran is a brilliant strategic master stroke, not a catastrophic blunder by a reckless incompetent.

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