Category Archives: Israel

CONTENTION OF THE DAY – On Israel, it’s not Joe, it’s not Obama, it’s Petraeus

On January 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East), arrived at the Pentagon to brief JCS Chairman Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The team had been dispatched [...]

CONTENTION OF THE DAY – DEDUCTIVE LOGIC

I think it’s clear by now that Obama does not wish to make a confrontation with Iran part of his presidency. As I’ve written before, this means that Israeli security fears become a major problem for the administration: surely Obama realizes that one of his most important jobs is therefore preventing the Israelis from attacking.
How [...]

Ockham’s Razor

The simplest explanation for a phenomenon, ceteris paribus, is to be preferred. Here is my candidate for understanding current American policy regarding Iran:  Barack Obama wants Iran to acquire a a nuclear weapon, indeed several or even many nuclear weapons.  Why?  To teach Israel a lesson and put the fear of God into Israelis.  The President [...]

Stopping Iran’s nuclear program, more on the current thinking…

“How to Stop Iran” is the title of a column by Olivier Debouzy that appeared in the WSJ 10 day ago.  Debouzy is apparently a very well-connected French defense intellectual. It’s worth reading his entire article to absorb his reasoning, but I’ll cut to the chase for our purposes. 
The basis of his proposal is for [...]

Iran and Genocide

There was some discussion a while ago on this blog about whether the actions and rhetoric of the Iranian regime really represent a genocidal threat to Israel. This article by Kenneth L. Marcus makes a compelling case that they do.

CONTENTION OF THE DAY – what the Obami believe

Advocates of a containment policy suggest that in the absence of effective diplomacy or sanctions that deliver results, the stark U.S. options are acquiescence or military action. Privately, Obama administration officials confess that they believe Israeli action will preempt our policy debate, as Israel’s tolerance for an Iranian nuke is significantly lower than our own. [...]

CONTENTION OF THE DAY – Iranian gamechanger watch

The Iranian regime has been very clever in its development of a nuclear weapons program. Using a horizontal model where they first lined up all the necessary “ingredients” for advanced nuclear weapons –heavy water plants, experimental reactors, plutonium refining plants and uranium enrichment facilities — means that they can shoot directly for a thermonuclear device [...]

Doubt?

James Cunningham, who is our ambassador to Israel, says “According to the polls, there is doubt” about whether Obama is “a good friend to Israel.”
According to a poll in August, 4% of Israeli Jews think Obama is pro-Israel. That’s four percent. One in twenty-five. In a country not known for consensus politics.
It [...]

A great speech

Netanyahu at the UN, telling it like it is:

Zbigniew: Polish for “Jimmy Carter’s Viagra”

I bet after Jimmah got his dose of the Daily Beast (via Weekly Standard,) Rosalynn finally got a little action from Sweaterboy.  “American jets taking down Israeli bombers… ooh ahh… exploding fireballs and bitty jet pieces all over Mesopotamia… pant pant…”
The problem is, I don’t think the other Arab countries would object to Israel bombing [...]

Foreign Policy, Shambles, etc.

It didn’t take a genius to see this coming down the pike.  As evidence, I cite myself listing it as one of BO’s top-ten “To Do’s” back before he was a nominee, a gleam in the presidential eye, as it were.  Yup, there is a real nostalgia among the left for the days of Carter, [...]

CONTENTION OF THE DAY – the back burner can blow up the whole kitchen

Events are fast pushing Israel toward a pre-emptive military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, probably by next spring. That strike could well fail. Or it could succeed at the price of oil at $300 a barrel, a Middle East war, and American servicemen caught in between. So why is the Obama administration doing everything it [...]

Obama Foreign Policy: A Disaster

A nostalgia moment: Do you remember when Barack Obama cited his childhood sojourn in Indonesia and his undergraduate major in International Studies as his qualifications to set, implement, and defend American foreign policy?  Do you remember laughing at the “International Studies” part?
Eight years ago George W. Bush called out Iran as one of the threesome [...]

Inspiring news

I always said a smart Jewish boy can become anything he wants to.

Alternate Contention of the Day

The West Bank’s economic improvements contrast with the lack of diplomatic progress on the creation of a Palestinian state. Negotiators focus on the “top down” issues, grappling with legal and territorial problems. But the West Bank’s population is building sovereignty from the bottom-up, forging the law-enforcement, civil, and financial institutions that form the underpinnings of [...]

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