Back in January, reports came out that the US was planning a massive joint military exercise with Israel that was viewed as a possible precursor to an attack on Iran. Later that month, the exercise was called off, although it was not exactly clear why. The exercise was rescheduled to take place in October, just weeks before the presidential election, but new reports indicate it will be drastically scaled down. Time magazine reports:
Seven months ago, Israel and the United States postponed a massive joint military exercise that was originally set to go forward just as concerns were brimming that Israel would launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The exercise was rescheduled for late October, and appears likely to go forward on the cusp of the U.S. presidential election. But it won’t be nearly the same exercise. Well-placed sources in both countries have told TIME that Washington has greatly reduced the scale of U.S. participation, slashing by more than two-thirds the number of American troops going to Israel and reducing both the number and potency of missile interception systems at the core of the joint exercise.
“Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” a senior Israeli military official tells TIME.
The reductions are striking. Instead of the approximately 5,000 U.S. troops originally trumpeted for Austere Challenge 12, as the annual exercise is called, the Pentagon will send only 1,500 service members, and perhaps as few as 1,200. Patriot anti-missile systems will arrive in Israel as planned, but the crews to operate them will not. Instead of two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense warships being dispatched to Israeli waters, the new plan is to send one, though even the remaining vessel is listed as a “maybe,” according to officials in both militaries.
Time‘s Karl Vick and Aaron J. Klein interpret the move as the Obama administration pumping the breaks on an attack on Iran, but it also provides insight into the the current state of US/Israeli relations. Vick and Klein quote Efraim Inbar, who gloated to Helena Cobban that Israel would be able to “play” the Americans, saying neither the US or Israel trust each other:
In the current political context, the U.S. logic is transparent, says Israeli analyst Efraim Inbar. “I think they don’t want to insinuate that they are preparing something together with the Israelis against Iran – that’s the message,” says Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. “Trust? We don’t trust them. They don’t trust us. All these liberal notions! Even a liberal president like Obama knows better.”
Go ahead, ‘play us’. Sooner or later you will lose….it all. Faster please.
Dempsey: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Complicit’ in Israeli Strike on Iran
The top US general warned against an Israeli attack on Iran, which would be counterproductive and dangerous
by John Glaser, August 30, 2012
The United States will not be ‘complicit’ in an Israeli military strike on Iran, America’s top military general warned on Thursday, adding that such an attack would not only fail to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but could prompt Iran to reconstitute its weapons programs.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs General Martin Dempsey made the comments on Thursday in London, pushing back against US and Israeli warmongers who have advocated for a preemptive military strike on Iran for a nuclear weapons program it doesn’t even have.
He warned that an attack by Israel would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program.” This falls in line with previous analysis by the Obama administration and experts that Iran’s nuclear enrichment is too redundant to be completely destroyed by Israeli attacks and that such a move may encourage the Iranians to actually start making weapons to serve as a deterrent for further strikes.
For now, Dempsey said, whether Iran even wants nuclear weapons is inconclusive. But he did warn that diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran “could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely.”
Previous attempts at cooling the fiery war rhetoric coming from the Israeli leadership and some warmongers in Washington have not sunk in. But Dempsey’s warnings about the counterproductive and dangerous implications of a needless war on Iran could help lessen the chances of an Israeli attack in the near-term
link to csmonitor.com
excerpt..
“I don’t want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it,” he added.
The New York Times reports that the US has reminded Israeli officials repeatedly that, on its own, Israel lacks the military capability to destroy the key nuclear site at Fordow, which is underground and heavily reinforced. The US has the capability, but wants to give “diplomacy, sanctions, and sabotage” more time.
But yesterday’s IAEA report “validated” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance that diplomacy and sanctions have failed to slow Iran’s nuclear wok, and may even be forcing it to speed up, according to the Times.
But the agency’s report has also put Israel in a corner, documenting that Iran is close to crossing what Israel has long said is its red line: the capability to produce nuclear weapons in a location invulnerable to Israeli attack.
… Officials and experts here say the conclusions may force Israel to strike Iran or concede it is not prepared to act on its own.
Whether that ultimately leads to a change in strategy – or a unilateral attack – is something that even Israel’s inner circle cannot yet agree on, despite what seems to be a consensus that Iran’s program may soon be beyond the reach of Israel’s military capability.
“It leaves us at this dead end,” said a senior government official here, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is involved in the decision-making process. “The more time elapses with no change on the ground in terms of Iranian policies, the more it becomes a zero-sum game.”
Singling out the US, Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said today that comments from world powers have led Iran to believe that it does not face a true risk of a military strike, Reuters reports.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters yesterday when asked about the IAEA report that the US has been firm that Iran has a limited amount of time to halt further nuclear work, Haaretz reports.
“The president has made clear frequently that he is determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Carney said. “So long as the Iranian regime refuses to comply with its international obligations, the United States, with its allies, will continue to take actions to further isolate and penalize Iran and the regime.”
Dov Zakheim, (Israel Firster) a former defense department official in the Bush administration, writes in Foreign Policy that the Obama administration’s only goal regarding Iran right now is “delaying anything from happening in the Middle East before Election Day.”
‘’As for the impasse with Iran, here too, the key to achieving American objectives is the credibility of American pronouncements. There is more than Washington can do as it attempts win the trust of Israel’s key decision makers on any Israeli attack…. Supplying missile defense systems is simply not enough for a nation that cannot tolerate even the most minimal probability that a nuclear weapon could penetrate those defenses.
Washington’s willingness to look the other way [as other countries flout sanctions on Iran] further intensifies Israeli fears that, at the end of the day, Iran will develop a nuclear capability while America and the West wring their hands.’’
Our time is coming. This is the tipping point.
@ CloakAndDagger
Yes it is. Bibi will attack by October to swing the USA into gear behind Israel at the height of the US campaign, assuming its very close at that time. Wanna bet? Bibi knows America’s 1% intimately.
Citizen I am with you. I think all of this pull back is fishy. Netanyahu can take a light swipe at Iran (not enough for them to strike back) and take out Obama in one swoop. Get Romney and his warmongering go get Iran team in, block slow down anything Obama had up his sleeve about taking a stronger stand against expanding illegal settlements, get behind Israel on Iran and ramp it up with Iran after Romney gets in
israel – you overplayed your hand – and FINALLY the U.S. swats it away … for this one moment it will be U.S. interests that dictate, not the whims of the current crop of deranged israeli leaders
overplayed is right. i don’t when the plan got scaled down but i’d wager demanding a statement from Obama about an Iran attack by Yom Kippur went over like a lead brick.
Maybe someone is doing a little atonement in the spirit of Yom Kippur.
Geez why is it that Israel does not trust the U.S. Helped create their country have allowed them to expand illegal settlements while undermining U.S. national security, last President to demand that they open up their nuclear weapons sites was President Kennedy, send them billions to spend on what ever they like, blocked sending in international observers from the UN. Now the U.S. may not be willing to follow them off the cliff to disaster by supporting a pre-emptive attack on Iran based on unsubstantiated claims. I don’t know sounds like the Obama administration is being a damned good friend. Trying to take the keys away from a power crazed drunk driver.
@ Kathleen
Yeah, just like the power crazed drunk driver who bulldozed Rachel Corrie–you know, the woman who most Americans never heard about?
helena’s interview with Inbar is just amazing/incredible! i urge everyone to open that link.
great post adam.
read it…..”We are no longer dependent on the Gentiles.”
..he says.
IF only that were true.
@ American
I wish we Americans were no longer dependent on Israel First money to have a career representing Americans in Congress or by US government appointment.
Even 1500 US military personnel in Israel in late October gives Israel an ideal opportunity to stage an ‘Iranian attack’ — but on American personnel this time. Preferably the victims will include some girls.
Israel will then retaliate — for us, of course. Ideally, it’s be about ten days before the election. Obama will be over a barrel. He’ll at least make approving noises.
However, to be hopeful, we may be watching for this, and we may hear about it.
I know seeing actual good will and perceptiveness in the CIA et al runs counter to progressive dogma, but Israel-love isn’t as universal in those quarters as some may assume. Note here that enthusiasm for an attack on Iran isn’t exactly universal in Israel either. Any such operation is very likely to leak.
The upshot will be nothing will happen. Around about October 23rd, a US official may meet an Israeli official and let him know we have complete information about a proposed Mossad operation. We’ll suggest they cancel it.
Alternatively, the exercise may suddenly get postponed. Say, to the week after the election.
Well there is that scenario.
Bibi’s gonna do it–bomb Iran; he just needs a bit more support from key Israeli officials. It no longer has anything to do with what Americans are doing or saying.
This story is potentially huge. It’s the first palpable ACT that the Obama Administration has taken to distance itself from Israel and Netanyahu. It’s a hard act for the Republicans to criticize, can they really demand that more Americans be sent to Israel as human shields?
Hopefully, this sets a precedent.
i don’t think it’s the very first act obama has done bill and i will tell you another right off the top of my head. and i followed this very very closely at the time..directly after mossad assassinated the last iranian scientist iran sent a message thru the swiss embassy and israel immediately leaked it, splashed it all over jposts front page (they were in competition w/framing..the WSJ had published and important article about the US warning about the “dire consequences of a strike”.. was being highly circulated (not favorable to israel wrt US positioning)..so the leak of iran’s message was, imho, intended to counter this negativity and it blasted the news the US was sending thousand of soldiers in may to ‘test’ it’s weapons in may, again at a highly charged time of diplomatic yuk days after the assassination and when they announced it the wording really sounded like the exercise was timed to go to war. obama (almost immediately…within days) called off the exercise and moved it to the fall. definitely distanced himself. plus you could tell israel was completely called off guard because they were not on message (very rare for israel hasbara) wrt who called off the strikes. they tried to frame it as ‘joint decision’, it happened in the middle of the night, like 3 am after the leak, when obviously it was not a joint decision at all. it was the US saying FU for framing us as intending to support you attacking iran.
here it is published in january 15th Breaking report: US/Israel military drill cancelled, after US tells Israel to back off
later there was an update:
UPDATE:
but the trajectory is all there.
also, for anyone interested i recommend the comment section. and note how jpost changed their wording after the WSJ article came out.
link to mondoweiss.net
also, recall the announcement was made just days before dempsey’s arrival in israel in the middle of accusations flying about the assassination.
That all lined during the same time that Mark Perry wrote his “False Flag” article in Foreign Policy (Jan 13 2o12) about Israeli Mossad dressing up as CIA to recruit members of the Jundallah to fight their war in Iran. Jundallah were accused of killing Iranian scientist and women and children.
In Mark Perry’s article he says the Israeli relationship with Jundallah pissed the Bush administration off until the day they left office
@bill It’s the first palpable ACT that the Obama Administration has taken to distance itself from Israel
Last February when Obama announced in very clear words that the US would not accept Iran building a “nuclear weapon” this was in complete defiance of the Israeli demand that Iran not be allowed to reach “nuclear weapon capability”. They have been squealing in protest ever since but Obama has not changed the wording.
So this is not the first act of distancing but cancelling and/or postponing these exercises are very significant since they indicate a pattern that Obama might really be moving to put some distance between Israel and the US.
I think the US is also signalling to Iran that we are not going to join in any Israeli insanity and if Israel does attack please do not respond by sinking any of our 5th Fleet warships in the Persian Gulf. I would hope that more direct lines of communication were open but since Obama gave Dennis Ross the Iranian portfolio, our state department can’t be trusted to deliver any messages.
It’s a hard act for the Republicans to criticize, can they really demand that more Americans be sent to Israel as human shields?
Unfortunately they can. They might even insist on it. That after all is the reason we have troops in Korea–if Americans die in a North Korean attack this country will have no choice but to go to war.
BillM says: “This story is potentially huge. It’s the first palpable ACT that the Obama Administration has taken to distance itself from Israel and Netanyahu. “
Not to slight Obama for doing this — but things really have gotten pretty bad when all we can do to signal our displeasure with Israel is to reduce the size of a joint military exercise. Not cancel it, mind.
Wouldn’t want to do anything Israel could call us out on. Oh no…
Somebody somewhere compared Israel to a very spoiled four-year old. Well, I’m confident if you tried to raise a child like this, he would indeed turn out very spoiled.
Somebody needs to give Israel a good hard spanking. Aside from longer-term goals, what’s wrong with unequivocally announcing that if Israel mounts a unilateral strike on Iran, we’re immediately stopping all aid payments and arms sales? Surely that would be a reasonable step — an example of firm parenting?
Really, watch what happens to Gen Dempsey. Taken down as a drunk Irish lout in a manner of speaking.
Another question is, what is Netanyahu’s exit strategy? How does he extract himself politically from his pledge to go to war?
He issues some bullshit statement about how he has ‘allowed ‘ Obama extra time to get his ducks in a row on when not if to strike Iran. Lies and bs will abound on both sides so we will have more to guess and hypothesize about.
Bill, you are so naive. Past can be altered whenever inconvenient. Not for the first time.
BillM says: “How does he extract himself politically from his pledge to go to war?”
He goes to war.
“He goes to war.”
I think he will.
But not against Iran.
He will “price tag” Gaza.
— now that’s an operation more within the capabilities of the IDF. That and shooting unarmed Turks at close range.
Or Americans, if they happen to be of Turkish descent.
I think Lebanon. The US always gives the green light to an attack of Lebanon.
Except Lebanon is now able to strike the heart of israel in its defense – something that israel is terrified of.
Chicken hawks!
If Romney is elected, Bibi gets his war. Romney’s top foreign policy guy is Dan Senor, a dyed-in-the-wool neocon warmonger and a fanatic Zionist.
Senor is one of Kirstol’s underlings, and Romney’s administration will be filled to the brim with more of Kristol’s henchmen, so Romney will be ‘forced’ to give what they want. After all, if he wins, Adelson have him by his balls. And Romney has folded time and time again.
If Obama wins it becomes much more interesting.
Still, even if Romney wins, do you think he’ll approve a strike on Iran within year one, just as the fiscal cliff needs to be fought off? No President wants to begin his term with a recession, especially a self-induced recession.
Bibi’s advisors understand this, that’s why Obama is pulling the rug under their feet to make sure that if they were to strike, they would have to do it alone(which they can’t of course).
But Iran isn’t off the table. We’ve been hearing the ‘end if nigh’ chorus for years and years now, if Iran were to aquire nuclear weapons it would need to enter a 18-month window of increased production, and that 18 month window would be very easy for Western agencies to spot.
So there’s still years left. And in the meantime, a price tag operation against Gaza to satisfy the carnal bloodlust of the Israel public.
How easily the neocons have globbed on to which ever administration best suits their middle east agenda is disturbing. Agents for another country working just below the surface to manipulate U.S. foreign policy for Israel’s benefit. Senator Fulbright and a few others saw this coming.
Paul Findlay sure tried to stand up to them. Thank goodness for his effortsi
Mndwss says: “He will “price tag” Gaza.”
It’s certainly the most convenient option.
In that connection, notice that very mysterious group that has started firing rockets out of Gaza the last few days? I’d love to know exactly who’s behind that.
This asking and pleading is not how to handle Israel. They revel in being the center of attention, it reinforces their idea of their fantastic power as the center of the Jewish World with the holocaust no fault shield. I dont say this because I want to see Israel slapped down, I say it because it’s true. The longer and more the world plays to their delusions and Israel has the world hopping around like cats on a hot tin roof at their every threat and demand, the more certain it becomes that real power will have to eventually take them down a peg or 10.
Bluff or no bluff, the time has come to tell Israel …..You’re totally on your own, do whatever you want, but know everyone else is going to protect their own interest, not yours.
Merkel urges Israel not to strike Iran: report
(AFP) – 7 hours ago
JERUSALEM — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to order a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, the newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday.
The article, citing an Israeli official on condition of anonymity, said Merkel had called Netanyahu 10 days ago amid a wave of reports of an imminent Israeli attack, to give a “clear message as to her opposition” to such action.
Merkel urged Netanyahu to “give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to work,” and warned of the consequences of such an attack for security in the Middle East.
A spokesman for Netanyahu refused to comment on the report or to confirm the conversation had taken place.
Netanyahu told a visiting US congressman last Friday that Iran was speeding up its quest for nuclear weapons in defiance of international sanctions.
The Haaretz article described the phone call as “exceptional” given the “almost complete disconnect” for two months between Merkel and Netanyahu after a sharp disagreement over Israeli settlements and the Palestinian issue.
Deputy government spokesman Georg Streiter told a Berlin news conference he could “not confirm (the information in) this article,” reminding that Berlin did not believe in a military solution to the Iran nuclear issue.
Merkel also said an Israeli attack would have severe consequences for the European Union and that international sanctions, which were taking their toll on Iran, should be strengthened and given time to work, Haaretz wrote
@American They revel in being the center of attention, it reinforces their idea of their fantastic power
True, but that does not mean that the mature nations of the world are basing their policies on these antics, but they are certainly working to manage them.
This reminds me of a scene I witnessed in a super market. There was a 4 or so year old that was going through a temper tantrum. I had no idea that something that small could make so much noise. And it was an almost convincing performance that that poor child was being terrible abused. It certainly caught the attention of every adult in the store. The mother looked mortified and simply tried to talk the down this child. But it just kept going and going for what seemed forever.
All of us witnessing the spectacle knew that sooner or later the tantrum would stop and certainly hoped that it was not going to be behavior that was rewarded. Israel is that child.
Yeah, Israel is insane. Atzmon calls it borrowed, anticipated, traumatic stress disorder. It’s like a sociopath running around engaging in scapegoatism and the cycle of family abuse. Boils down to the issue of very rich Americans like Sheldon Adlelson with this profile; their money buys American foreign policy.
Israel has suckered the US freiers into placing a vast quantity of munitions in Israel. These a normally pre-placed in safe locations for US use in an emergency. I suspect Israel plans to use these for any attack against Iran. If it does so, perhaps the US would say- “Sorry Israel, we planned to help you but all our supplies seem to have disappeared somehow or other. It will takes us months to restock. You are on you own for a while.”
@ Egbert
You seem naive. The US war supplies in Israel are all for Israel if it feels it needs them. Our congress made it so.
RE: “US scales back military exercise with Israel; Israeli official tells TIME, ‘Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you”
MY COMMENT: More good news! The head of Israel’s “extortion racket”*, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be coming to the US next month in an effort to give the Romney/Ryan campaign a boost!
* like those most commonly associated with organized crime groups
SEE: “Netanyahu to deliver speech on Iran at UN General Assembly”, By Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 8/30/12
PM to go to New York next month for 3-day visit; Netanyahu: I will go to the UN to tell the truth about the terror regime of Iran.
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to haaretz.com
ALSO SEE: “Netanyahu to speak on Iran at U.N. General Assembly”, by Reuters, 8/30/12
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to reuters.com
P.S. • EXTORTION - link to en.wikipedia.org
P.S. RE: “The head of Israel’s “extortion racket”, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be coming to the US next month in an effort to give the Romney/Ryan campaign a boost!” – me (above)
FURTHER REFLECTION: Am I being overly suspicious in suspecting that Netanyahu’s “speech” to the UN might be a collaborative effort between Netanyahu’s office and the Romney/Ryan campaign with plenty of nice, juicy soundbites suitable for attack ads to be funded by certain billionaire-funded 503(c)(3) “super PACs” and/or even more secretive 503(c)(4) “social welfare organizations”?
Would the Repub-Likuds stoop that low?
N0, I guess I’m just getting overly cynical in my all too rapidly advancing older age.
• Arthur J. Finkelstein - link to en.wikipedia.org
RE: “Am I being overly suspicious in suspecting that Netanyahu’s ‘speech’ to the UN might be a collaborative effort between Netanyahu’s office and the Romney/Ryan campaign . . . ? Would the Repub-Likuds stoop that low?” ~ me (above)
NOT CASTING ASPERSIONS (WELL MAYBE): “Bitter Jerusalem slams US for ‘lack of determination’ in face of Iran’s nuclear drive”, By Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel, 8/31/12
After Dempsey says he doesn’t want to be ‘complicit’ in Israeli attack, analysts highlight that US army chief used a term with criminal connotations
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to timesofisrael.com
RE: “The head of Israel’s “extortion racket”, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be coming to the US next month in an effort to give the Romney/Ryan campaign a boost!” – me (above)
SEE: ‘US [Read "US" as "Obama" - J.L.D.] is undermining military threat against Iran’, By Reuters, JPost.com Staff, 8/31/12
SOURCE – link to jpost.com
P.S. EXTORTION - link to en.wikipedia.org
Cue the ‘false-flag’…
‘…Cue the ‘false-flag’…’
That dog may not hunt anymore. In fact, purely as a matter of speculation, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve quietly informed Israel that if she tries anything along those lines, we’ll call her on it.
Netanyahu will only strike Iran before the election if he thinks Obama will win (because after the election Obama will have a free hand to resist war with Iran). But if Netanyahu thinks Obama is going to lose, he might as well wait till Romney takes office to launch any strike, given Romney’s bellicosity on Iran and apparent willingness to fight Israel’s war for him.
@ Carowhat
Bibi will bomb Iran before the next POTUS is elected only if it looks like that might be Obama. Then, the idea is to trap Obama before he gets a second term and may not be to Bibi’s liking (even more than now).
Interesting timing! This is announced the second the Republican Convention is over and right before the Democratic Convention begins. They’re all playing a game of chicken to call each others bluff. Such a dangerous game though!
Egbert, about those US munitions stored in Israel, there is an agreement that Israel can and may use them at any time for its own purposes, free of charge. The stored munitions were used during Israel’s war on Lebanon in July 2006, additional munitions were airlifted during the war and replacement munitions for stockpiling were received from the US by the end of that year, all at no cost to Israel. The US has a zillion bases all over the world to stockpile its munitions and doesn’t need Israel for that; those munitions in Israel are freebies for use by Israel. The US also has agreements to supply Israel with all its fuel (free of cost) for all its military planes and land vehicles. Odd how while the US is paying for all of Israel’s military’s fuel, Israel is itself refining fuel to sell to other countries. 55 GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrators (Bunker-busters), were secretly delivered to Israel in 2009. In any event, I doubt Israel really wants to attack Iran; this is all a giant smoke screen for something big, drastic and final it has in store for the Palestinians. Attacking Iran would bring about the end of Israel.
@ Walid
Well, I agree that Israel can use any US military deposits anywhere, at its discretion. But I think Bibi will attack Iran if he thinks Obama won’t won’t and it looks like he’s beating Mitt.
The US doesn’t trust Israel? Whyever not?
(He asked innocently.)
US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East?
link to foreignpolicyjournal.com
powerful report, thanks for the link
The “special relationship” ain’t so special anymore.
Carowhat wrote:
“Netanyahu will only strike Iran before the election if he thinks Obama will win (because after the election Obama will have a free hand to resist war with Iran). But if Netanyahu thinks Obama is going to lose, he might as well wait till Romney takes office to launch any strike, given Romney’s bellicosity on Iran and apparent willingness to fight Israel’s war for him.”
I suspect Israel/Netanyahu are very suspicious of Romney. Sure, lots of talk now from him, and certainly surrounding himself with neo-cons “helps,” but as someone else here said with Romney having made the economy front-and-center of his campaign who lightly believes that right off the bat after getting elected he’s gonna utterly tank it (via oil prices alone) by *either* participating in an attack on Iran or green-lighting Israel to attack?
So Israel/Netanyahu is in a bind given the alternative of Obama being reelected and substantially out of reach of AIPAC and etc., which I suspect is why he let loose on our Ambassador in that meeting the other day.
Really all this argues for is Israel attacking on its own before our election, daring Obama to not support it (after, of course, doing everything it first can to get Iran to retaliate against the U.S. and our other friends in the region to draw us in from the start).
I say … watch Romney now real close. Sure he talked about Obama throwing Israel under the bus, but that’s just conventional, *general* talk. The question in my mind is whether he is now going to get any more specific criticizing Obama for not greenlighting Israel and … I bet he will not. AIPAC/Adelson and etc. may have a lot of influence, and of course there are some hard-core congresspeople in their pocket, but most are just intimidated into their “support,” and I suspect more intimidated by being tagged as helping start a war that tanks the US economy big-time.
That’s sort of the downside of Israel’s fundamental tactic of believing in bullying rather than truly making friends: The second the fundamentals change, all those previously bullied walk away from you when the going is tough.
It’s been said that Netanyahu is only one or two cabinet votes away on attacking Iran right away and my betting still is he will get same—esp. now and then even more esp. if Romney doesn’t come out ripping Obama for his redlighting.
Of course if Israel does launch it’ll be a horror—and man, *if* the radioactive fallout from Iran isn’t too bad the worst will in fact probably be in Southern Lebanon which the Israelis are gonna just flatten—but right now one’s gotta chuckle at its pickle.
Well, I may well be being optimistic, but I feel like Churchill after El Alamein.
‘This is not the end. It not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’
The servants are getting recalcitrant — not openly defiant, but definitely no longer eager. Obama has openly cut back the size of the joint exercise. The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says he doesn’t want the US to be ‘implicated’ in an Israeli attack on Iran.
The Jerusalem Post claims Israel is ‘puzzled’ by Dempsey’s remark. Perhaps ‘frightened’ would be a more accurate term. It must be like suddenly realizing your pension fund may file for bankruptcy. No more giant US Golem at Israel’s beck and call. Anyway, the Golem is showing distinct signs of proving uncooperative.
The times, they are a changin.’ Speaking of The Times, it’s changing too. Jodi Rudoren and the other spin-masters are still doing what they’re paid to do — but stuff’s leaking in all around the edges. On the Mideast page as I write this, there’s a Lede piece on the outcome of the Rachel Corrie murder, an announcement that the ‘non-aligned nations back Iran’s nuclear bid,’ and an op-ed on ‘Israel’s fading democracy.’
The wolves are circling — and Israel has nowhere to run to. I’ve long felt that in principle, Israel could never endure. No conquest made on such a basis ever has.
But now — perhaps for the first time — I feel confident the end is nigh. Not ‘nigh’ exactly. There will be setbacks, and moments of apparent Zionist resurgence, and of course the exact course of events can’t be predicted — but as a pure guess, I’d give Israel about another ten years. There will be spasms of violence, and attempts to accept peace terms in 2015 that were last on offer in 2005, but Dr. Colin says the prognosis is terminal — whatever quack remedies are attempted. You don’t get better from what Israel’s got.
It’s going to be a long movie, but one with a happy ending. Get out the popcorn.
One thing that no one considers is that Romney is ‘using’ the zios as they also are using him or think they are using him.
Study Romney’s past business operations….. find a company that wants to or needs to expand or more often find one and sell them the idea they need to expand, take some stock and directorship on their board in return for your Bain Capital services, arrange a bank loan for it to expand, take a fee thru another company for arranging the loan, saddle the company with the bank debt, thru another Bain service charge a consulting fee for telling the company what they now have to do to be able to pay the interest and loan you have now saddled them with, usually firing employees, …..walk away with 20 million in fees.
Romney is as totally capable of playing the zio money men for suckers as he is playing the population as suckers.
So far the zio money bags have dozens millions in the GOP race.
Romney hasn’t spent one cent of his own personal money on his campaign.