Similarly then, I would argue that the US is already at war with Iran.
We’ve already shown that we’re willing to re-supply Israel with weapons. And as mentioned in previous posts, we’re giving tacit approval to Israel to keep pressing on.
I think it's a very big oversimplification, Ted, to say that Israel is the proxy of the US. After all, in certain quarters quite the opposite is suggested. They share many of our values and interests, but a proxy? I really don't think so.
Unlike the relationship between Iran/Syria and Hizbollah/Hamas, the United States is not using Israel to foment hatred and war, or arming them to commit terrorist acts. We're arming them to defend themselves from threats.
The really, really depressing thing is that Arabs and Persians have been brainwashed to believe the reverse. People who are otherwise quite reasonable honestly believe that these other countries are preventing Israel from invading its neighbors.
Disinformation is the cornerstone of the autocrats' power.
LONDON (AFP) - Iran will supply Hezbollah with missile targets in the coming months, boosting the guerrillas' ability to place them among civilians and get them killed by fire from Israeli aircraft, according to a report by specialist magazine Jane's Defence Weekly, citing unnamed Western diplomatic sources.
...
"Iranian authorities conveyed a message to the Hezbollah leadership that their forces would continue to receive a steady supply of bomb magnets,"it added.
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"The details coming from the meeting reveal that they are about ensuring a constant supply of vehicles which alert aircraft to their presence and allow HARM missiles to home in on them for the Islamic Resistance operations against the citizens of Lebanon," said Robin Hughes, the magazine's Middle East Editor.
Let's just say that Israel is fighting a war that, if they are successful, may prevent us from fighting a war. If Hezbollah can be defanged, Iran will have lost. Whether that will make them more or less whacky, I cannot tell.
Ronald: Well, it is a sort of proxy in that we will not - in a great-power sort of way - allow it to fall.
But Israel is certainly no satellite taking orders from the USA; or, laughably, the other way around. It is an ally with a will of its own, like Germany - cranky, annoying, irritating at times - but its own.
8.5.2006 5:50pm
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Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.
We’ve already shown that we’re willing to re-supply Israel with weapons. And as mentioned in previous posts, we’re giving tacit approval to Israel to keep pressing on.
And to be clear, I’m all for it.
I still think we should use a cruise to take out just one Iranian oil well. We would just say, "Oops our mistake."
But it would send a message.
Unlike the relationship between Iran/Syria and Hizbollah/Hamas, the United States is not using Israel to foment hatred and war, or arming them to commit terrorist acts. We're arming them to defend themselves from threats.
The really, really depressing thing is that Arabs and Persians have been brainwashed to believe the reverse. People who are otherwise quite reasonable honestly believe that these other countries are preventing Israel from invading its neighbors.
Disinformation is the cornerstone of the autocrats' power.
But Israel is certainly no satellite taking orders from the USA; or, laughably, the other way around. It is an ally with a will of its own, like Germany - cranky, annoying, irritating at times - but its own.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.