Russian version
Waiting for a bomb, with a lot of salt
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Wesley Pruden
Jewish World Review Jan.
9, 2007 / 19 Teves, 5767
"Contingency plans" are best served with lots of salt, but the Iranians
are taking the latest tale about Israeli "plans" to take out Tehran's nuclear
sites with red pepper.
No one doubts that the Israelis have drawn up such plans, to use low-yield
nuclear weapons to destroy the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all,
or at least until next time. Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Pentagon
there are no doubt contingency plans for invading Scotland, laying siege
to Liechtenstein and for accepting the surrender of France. When you need
a contingency plan, you need it now.
Nevertheless, the destruction of the Iranian nuclear sites is taken
very seriously indeed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the seriously creepy president
who insists that Israel must be destroyed and who has more or less dared
the West to do something about it. He sent his Foreign Ministry spokesman
out to bluster in the wake of the latest report, in London's Sunday Times,
that Israel has nuclear bombers idling on the runway, waiting for the tower
to clear them for takeoff.
"Now this will convince the international community that the main threat
to the world ... is the Zionist regime," he said, and not only that, it
proves that Israel has nuclear weapons. Prudent men assume that Israel
has such weapons and have done so since long before the Israeli prime minister
hinted — in a slip of the tongue that might not have been a slip at all
— that Israel was "among the world's nuclear-equipped nations."
In Israel, Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry,
fell back on convenient diplomatic argle-bargle, neither confirming nor
denying the speculation. Israel is focused on diplomacy, he said, "and
if diplomacy succeeds, the problem can be solved peaceably." And so it
can. But if diplomacy does not succeed in assuring Israeli security, and
there's no reason to think it will since it never has, what then?
The rest of the West, which is mostly interested in making sure that
nobody disturbs nap time, has always assumed that if the Americans don't
do the deed, the Israelis will. The Jews will have no choice; survival
is the only game they're allowed to play.
By the London account, two Israeli air force squadrons have been training
for months to drop low-yield nuclear "bunker busters" on an enrichment
plant near the town of Natanz, a heavy water facility at Arak and the uranium
conversion plant at Isfahan. Laser-guided conventional bombs would soften
the targets, boring tunnels leading to the core of the facilities, and
nuclear warheads would then be inserted to explode deep underground, minimizing
fallout.
The detail of the plans is impressive, so impressive in fact that it
raises questions about why a well-informed Israeli source would talk so
irresponsibly to a newspaper correspondent. Anyone with so much information
would be confidently relied on to keep his mouth tightly shut. The Sunday
Times reported earlier that Israel, at the direction of Ariel Sharon, was
ready with a combined air-ground attack to destroy the Iranian nukes.
The most obvious explanation is that the story is a carefully constructed
ruse, intended to warn President Ahmadinejad that creep or not he had better
shape up if he knows what's good for him. "It's possible that this was
a leak done on purpose," says Reuven Pedatzur, a private defense analyst
in Jerusalem, "as deterrence, to say 'Someone better hold us back, before
we do something crazy.' " Ephraim Kam, an analyst at Tel Aviv University,
agrees: "No reliable source would ever speak about this."
Or it may be a ruse not directed at the Iranians, but at anyone in
the West still listening. The Sunday Times account suggests that Israel
may be attempting to pressure the United States to stiffen its on-again,
off-again diplomatic offensive, with credible threats of something more
persuasive to come, and to warn the Europeans, wet as always, to shut up
and get out of the way. A London newspaper would be just the right voice
to send the message. With salt — and pepper, too.
© 2007 Wesley Pruden
Russian version
Russian version
An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a