Not Now

Benjamin Kerstein explains why the internal politics of the Netanyahu government make it unlikely that Israel will launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear program while the issue is in the news.
There are not a lot of good options for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, and haven’t been for the past decade. I still believe that the real weapon of mass destruction in Iran, as in Syria, North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq, is the tyranny itself and not the tools it possesses. That said, short of an invasion – which remains a bad option for reasons I’ve discussed before – regime change in Iran is likely to take time, and Israel in particular may not have that luxury, which is why at a minimum it makes sense for the Irsaelis to take the military-strike option very seriously.

6 thoughts on “Not Now”

  1. My 1st post got cut off. Here it is-according to a british newspaper today, Israel has been given approval by Saudi Arabia for fly over rights to attack Iran.
    Theother thing is I rememebr someone saying a few years ago that the most effective way to topple the Iranina Govt-would be to take over their main oil facility in the Gulf, something with a K island. It would strangle them economically while not harming their people directly.

  2. Great idea, only everyone with 2 or more brain cells to rub together (i.e foreigners) would think we did it to control their oil.

  3. Didn’t say go it alone-I mean the world loves us now-didn’t you know that? Get other countries involved. Hell Sarkozy put a beat down on O’ Bumbler last Friday about being naive (thats diplo code for being a pussy) regarding Iran. The French are calling us pussies… Hope and Change baby. BTW-Israel and Saudi Arabia acting together is because of…….. American Big Oil??? ??? Finally, and most importantly-WHO FRIGGING CARES WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS?

  4. The only viable option is to get the Chinese on board and cut the gasoline sales to Iran as one of the sanctions. They import 40% of their gas.
    The most amazing thing is the Iranian’s somehow were able to build all these nuclear facilities all over their country including a harden mountain facility in less than 10 months.

  5. dch – agreed re: international opinion. US foreign policy decisions shouldn’t be based on whether or not we’re “liked,” unless that affects some other strategic US national interest.
    As for France, given its history, it’s hard to listen to their criticisms of US foreign policy with a straight face. For the moment, Sarzosky is currently proposing sanctions and “urging” their own companies not to do business in Iran, which isn’t exactly grounds for calling Obama naive. Sanctions are fine, but Sarzosky has now publicly stated that France is not looking beyond them, which is the wrong message.

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