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Ok, you worry that this man will not stay the course.

My worry, backed up by all recent indications to date, is that he is prone to escalate the kidnapping of three persons into a global crisis, and that he may not have the seasoning necessary to walk the very fine line between rsponding intelligently, and stepping too far over the line to ensure what is now, only a possibility.

He gave the Syrians a 72 hour ultimatum.

What say we suspend this discussion until the man is no longer bound by honor to avoid striking his enemies?

Ok, you worry that this man will not stay the course.

My worry, backed up by all recent indications to date, is that he is prone to escalate the kidnapping of three persons into a global crisis, and that he may not have the seasoning necessary to walk the very fine line between rsponding intelligently, and stepping too far over the line to ensure what is now, only a possibility.

He gave the Syrians a 72 hour ultimatum.

What say we suspend this discussion until the man is no longer bound by honor to avoid striking his enemies?

This is the problem with weak leaders, they have a tendency to over-react or puss out all together. However, this golbal crisis is a long time coming and this may be the spark. Other regional entities may see this as their opportunity to realize certain ambitions. Nobody is paying attention, but India has called Pakistan to the floor over the train bombings (and we have an Olmertesq leader in India who may very well over-react also), The North Koreans out right rejected (in record time i might add) the UN resolution and we know they could put a lot of steel on target in short order visa vi Seoul. Castro is dying, maybe he has a going away present, Chavez is . . . well Chavez, China-Taiwan, And Russia made a veiled threat the other day against Georgia. Worlds a mess right now, and i smell trouble

He gave the Syrians a 72 hour ultimatum

I was under the impression that this had been denied by the Israeli government.

is that he is prone to escalate the kidnapping of three persons into a global crisis

Okay, I have reservations concerning the "value" of those 3 persons. If they were American soldiers, I would personally move heaven and earth to free them if at all possible, and if that meant evolving the conflict from a local to global affair, so be it.

If the entire world is on edge to the point where this could be taken to a global crisis, then the issue is not truly centered on those 3 soldiers, it it?

The true issue, IMO, is the islamic fanatics in the mideast, and Iran and Syria in particular, along with the nutbar running NK into the ground, being appeased until they have the capability to annihilate a city in their area or elsewhere in the world with the push of a button.

Given the track record of islamic nutjobs and their goals of annihilating Israel, that situation cannot be allowed to come to fruition. To allow them to possess nukes spells certain doom for Israel. MAD is not a consideration of islamic militants. Give them a nuke and Tel Aviv is history, IMO. MAD will not allow us to simply wait them out the same as the USSR. The situations are not comparable, and to believe they are invites disaster, IMO.

If Iran pops a nuke on Tel Aviv, 1 billion muslims, and a hell of a lot of anti semitic Europeans and others across the world, including many leftists here in the U.S., will applaud for Iran, most not openly, but many will be dancing in the streets over the result, even if it means that Tehran will be annihilated.

The islamic nutjobs do not think as you do, nor as the russians or chinese think. Look at their society, look at how it has stagnated for centuries. Yet their society persists. That should raise the alarm in any civilized mind.

Also, your way of thinking about those 3 soldiers brings to mind the last 444 days of Jimmy Carter's presidency.

Consider that, if you would.

Israel has to be careful not to overplay their hand.
If they strike Syria without a blatant strike directly from Syria first, they will be seen as the aggressors and not just as defending themselves.