By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, JPOST— There are few foreign-policy positions more silly than the assertion without context that “deterrence works.” It is like saying air power works. Well, it worked for Kosovo; it didn’t work over North Vietnam. It’s like saying city-bombing works. It worked in Japan 1945 (Tokyo through Nagasaki). It didn’t in the London…
By SHIMON SHIFFER, YNET— The United States has sent a message to Iran, via two European nations, saying that it will not back an independent Israeli strike against the country’s nuclear facilities as long as Tehran refrains from attacking American interests in the Persian Gulf, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. According to the report, Washington has…
By DEBKAfile, Exclusive Analysis, — US Gen. Martin Dempsey’s assertion Thursday, Aug. 30 that the US would not be “complicit” in an Israel strike against Iran, together with the drastic reduction in the scale of next month’s joint US-Israeli war game disclosed by TIME, add up to a blunt message from US President Barack Obama…
By ISRAEL HAYOM— The “dictatorial, evil, and bloodthirsty” Iranian regime must be immediately placed in a position in which it needs to choose between developing nuclear weapons and its own survival, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday at a memorial ceremony in Bulgaria for the victims of last month’s terrorist attack in Burgas.…
By DEBKAFILE— Tehran was forced to eat crow and backtrack on its ploy for winning international recognition for its nuclear program by showing Non-Aligned Summit leaders and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon around its nuclear sites. The tour was planned for Wednesday, Aug. 29. It would have been a mockery of US-promoted nuclear diplomacy, International…
By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, WASHINGTON POST — Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan horse or it is on the cusp of a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. What’s alarming is not just Iran’s increasing store of enriched uranium or the growing sophistication of its rocketry. It’s also the increasingly…
By ELLIOTT ABRAMS, WEEKLY STANDARD— How America can stop what the New York Times calls “Israel’s March to War” is the hot topic this month. The issue—for the Times—is whether Israel is on the verge of bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, or can be persuaded to delay that decision and rely on the United States instead.…
By DANIEL GREENFIELD, SULTAN KNISH — If Israel jets show up in Iranian airspace, it will most likely happen while Obama is too busy accusing Mitt Romney of secretly storing all his money in a giant cave in the Rocky Mountains to do more than dispatch a flunky to chew out Netanyahu over the phone.…
By ILAN BERMAN, FORBES— Will Israel, in fact, attack Iran? That question, a perennial one in the debate over Iran’s nuclear program, has gained far greater urgency of late, as it is becoming increasingly clear that Western sanctions have failed to alter the Islamic Republic’s strategic trajectory. Yet no one knows the answer with certainty…
By ROTEM SELLA, GATESTONE INSTITUTE— In the on-going debate over an Israeli attack on Iran, attention has largely focused over the last few weeks on Israel and America, for good reason. But what about Russia? A very senior person in the Israeli gas industry tells me: “The Russians have been poking around here for a…