Posted on 08/27/2012 8:59:57 PM PDT by BlackVeil
In Israel this week, people are lining up for gas masks, a new Homeland Defense has been set to work to deal with the task of readying the country for the possibility of attacks from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, and pundits are working overtime trying to figure out whether the nation’s political leadership is serious about launching a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities sometime this fall. Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, is doing his best to convince Americans that the saber-rattling coming out Jerusalem is not a bluff aimed at forcing the West to toughen sanctions on Iran or start making their own credible threats about using force. ... but Washington may be listening more closely to those figures inside the Jewish state who are claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are begging to be talked out of an attack.
As the New York Times reported yesterday, Uzi Dayan, a former general who was asked to serve as Homeland Defense Minister, says his conversations with both Netanyahu and Barak led him to believe that the window of diplomacy with Iran that the Obama administration keeps talking about is still open. There are good reasons to believe the Israeli government would like nothing better than to have the war talk do what an earlier wave of speculation about a strike accomplished when Washington belatedly adopted a tougher sanctions policy. Jerusalem understands that even a successful strike on Iran will exact a terrible price in casualties and damage from counter-attacks from the Islamist regime and its terrorist allies. But those who assert that Netanyahu is just bluffing forget that Israeli anxiety is rooted as much in its lack of confidence in Washington as it is in knowledge of Iran’s genocidal ambitions. ....
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
I don’t think Israel bluffs. I think they are always prepared to make good on any threat/statement they make.
Not a bluff, misdirection to keep them guessing.
Yes. There are too many reasons to not strike. However a threat of a strike costs nothing and may be useful.
It’s a good chess move by Bibi.
Puts Iran on notice and forces Barack to show his hand.
In game theory, bluffing is absolutely necessary, whether with a losing or winning hand, in order to throw randomness in the game and scramble the tells.
I sure hope Israel bluffs, because any one at war should know how to bluff the enemy. IT is essential. However in this day and age of peace at any cost and nuclear disarmament bs, we are losing that asset.
In any case, Israel has played a bluffing card as far as having nukes and defending itself. It’s how the game is plaid in war, tactics and strategies.
If Israel is bluffing, then ISrael will attack Iran.
barry to show his hand? he will probably crap his pants.
an added burden to the deficit. we will have to purchase more depends for the sissy in chief.
Blessings, bobo
You would have to completely ignorant of what leftists believe to think that the uber-leftist Obama wants Israel to survive.
Bibi wants his old office mate Bishop Willard to assume the Presidency. They know where each other's bones are buried!
Israel isn't stupid enough to attack Iran relying on backup from President Hussein!
My gut says they are not. One would have to ask why now? And given the potential #1 answer, why would anyone think it’s a bluff?
If I am not mistaken, Obama still has two hands, and he has a history of intercepting the doobie. Now what does that have to do with Israel ? Hmmmmmm......
The Stennis however is quickly on the way to theater.
Bibi does not bluff, and it is sooner than everybody thinks.
I used to believe that such a strike was possible - even imminent - but then - around about 2010, I told myself not to believe this story the next time it came around. Since then, I have been a skeptic.
Bibi’s in the cockpit and the jet engines are spooling up. Meanwhile Obama is... where?
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