Posted on 03/31/2009 12:07:21 PM PDT by lewisglad
The message from Israel's new prime minister is stark: if the Obama administration doesn't prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, Israel may be forced to attack.
An Atlantic exclusive by Jeffrey Goldberg
In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.
“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”
History teaches Jews that threats against their collective existence should be taken seriously, and, if possible, preempted, he suggested. In recent years, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has regularly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” and the supreme Iranian leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, this month called Israel a “cancerous tumor.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
A phrase popularized by Thomas Cahill, the author of How the Irish saved Civilization and other books (although it may not have originated by him).
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(for the Ladies...)
I've been suspecting this for some time. These are the professionals and they always seem to win.
That's essentially Samantha Power's position.
I wish they would reveal it all soon, so we can impeach Obama and get him out of the driver’s seat before he wrecks our whole country!
Obamawama is to busy promoting himself and posing for photo-ops with his shirt off and his trusty basketball by his side to be bothered with minor details like this.
That will be the last nail in the coffin.
You're correct that any hot-button issue Obama faces could potentially fit Biden's comments.
However, what struck me about Biden's comments is that he made them on October 19, 2008. On October 12th, former British Foreign Seceretary David Owen indicated that the Israel/Iran conflict was significantly escalating. That same week, both campaigns received their first national security briefing from the White House. Others speculated that Biden may have been referring to the possibility of Obama abandoning Israel. So it's not as far-fetched as one might like to think.
Now that we’ve allegedly broken the “Natural Born Citizen” barrier....Bibi for President!!!!
It’s easier to say that here, but in the Middle East it’s a delicate balancing act. The Saudis view Israel with hatred because they are Jews, but at the same time Iran is run by a dictator who views the Saudis as fellow Muslims, but decadant because of their jet set lifestyle.
The Saudis are moving slowly toward a more open government while the Iranians are closing ranks and getting more hardline. As Muslims the Saudis agree with this, but are against the fanaticism of the Iran govenrment.
Both hate Israel but don’t quite have the guts to start something because Israel is militarily and willingly able to fight back and launch a nuke.
This whole thing is like a tinderbox. One wrong spark and the whole region will be annihilated. Other than oil supply being dangerously disrupted I do not know if that would be a bad thing.
However of course, since God did promise to protect Israel, I think Israel will come out of it just fine.
Plus China is run by a bunch of godless atheists who sincerely believe that ‘any means necessary” applies to their defense (and otherwise) so I'm sure they would be willing to do their part to wipe out the extremist nutjobs.
That’s after the Tribulation and when AntiChrist brings his army.
Although according to some theologists Russia does attack and gets annihilated by God. That’s usually before the Rapture.
Something like that happens I’m going to spend the next couple of years setting my affairs in order and spreading the good word.
And playing politics with George Clooney.
“This is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of sheer survival.”
Something a lot of our idiots over here forget.
“Pharoah threatened to kill all of the first born of Israel, just before the 10th Plague, and it was a boomerang that hit his country with the same punishment.”
I wonder, if God, in his infinite irony, decided then that Pharoah would decide what would happen to his people next simply by condeming the Jews. He threatened to kill off all the Jewish babies and then God said, “...well, if that’s what he wants...”
It’s all about face. I remember seeing the movie version, and just before Pharoah’s son/heir came to him, he kind of seemed to be melting towards Moses. But when his son came along he hardened so as not to seem weak and then went back to refusing. It was the cartoon verison.
Shoot, shovel, and shut up, Bibi.
Please let him live. I dislike intensely zero as much as everyone else, but let him live out his term and then be disgraced. Zero would be a martyr and this country would burn to ash from all th rioting.
Yes, but the moderate is still part of the Mullah regime.
If the populace wants to avoid dealing with the rest of the world in an unpleasant way, and that includes the Sunni Gulf nations, they need to overthrow the regime.
I think there is a lot of evidence that Biden is diffident on Israel and plays to the Left on this issue.
Go get ‘em, Bibi!
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