podpolia

Israel is preparing action to disable or destroy Iran’s nuclear program. The United States has essentially said that if such a thing were to happen, we could be counted on not to mind at all. This is the LAST thing that Israel really wants to do at this point, but they are definitely willing to do it. The international response would probably be ugly, but considering that ‘ugly’ is the normal international position on Israel, what have they really got to lose? Hizb’allah would probably increase attacks on Israel, but I rather doubt that Iran really has the capability to declare war on Israel and fight anywhere besides within Iran itself. They might be able to manage some missile attacks, but without ground troops to back it up, they might as well not bother. Israel would likely also not be interested in fighting outside their own borders, apart from the special operations soldiers mentioned already in the article. I wouldn’t expect much more of a reaction than the attack on Osirak if this were to happen again, although it will probably be more difficult for Israel to get troops and aircraft to Iran than it was for western Iraq. Somehow I doubt that Iraq would grant overflight rights for a mission like this, but you never know. Particularly interesting would be if they sided with Israel on this one, and the US and Iraq pinned Iran politically to ratchet up pressure and try to depose the current Iranian government.
I know, that last one was quite a pipe dream.

This looks like an interesting book. I wonder if there will be any new information in it that historians in the west were unaware of.

I can never figure out how to spell Hizb’allah, so I generally stick to the spelling used in the story I’m linking to.

I can never figure out how to spell Hizb’allah, so I generally stick to the spelling used in the story I’m linking to.

Irritation with obstructionist Islamist governments has even spread to Palestine. Don’t expect this kind of opposition to itself go unopposed — Hamas is already working hard to slow the pace of change.
UPDATE 3/12/05 2.22PM: Via Chrenkoff we have this piece on the same topic.

Irritation with obstructionist Islamist governments has even spread to Palestine. Don’t expect this kind of opposition to itself go unopposed — Hamas is already working hard to slow the pace of change.
UPDATE 3/12/05 2.22PM: Via Chrenkoff we have this piece on the same topic.