I don’t really buy the “let’s sacrifice our countries to further the cause of islam” angle. Sure, Ahamanutjob might think that, but I doubt he has control over any missile launches.
Contrary to a lot of people, I don’t see Assad as downright stupid either. Sure, they have a defense pact with Iran, but if the U.S. or Israel were to smack Iran, I don’t think we’d be seeing any Syrian military operations.
Iran is a power in the region, but they are a limited power at best. Because they don’t have adequate refinement capabilities, they have a shortage of gasoline despite sitting on a buttload of oil. Furthermore, their economy is in the dumps. It takes a lot of money to project your power.
Why would Israel nuke Amman? I realize I’m something of an optimist, but I like to think that the Jordanians (at least the monarchy) are more reasonably folk. After all, didn’t Hussein try and warn Israel before the Yom Kippur War? Also, the fallout might conceivably hit Israel, or, although we’re a ways away, us in Iraq.
Course if the Syrian launch their chemical weapons at Israel, we’d at least get to see the Arrow system in action.
In case of the USA it is a lot of borrowed money. Note how the greenback has been tumbling lately, it is not a coincidence.