Wasn’t Born Yesterday

AP is reporting that “Israeli officials say they will not warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations with U.S. officials, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and in Congress.”

This is just unbelievable — by which I mean I don’t believe it. It makes no sense, and serves no purpose, because nobody else in the world — particularly those for whose ears it must be imagined to have been intended — will believe it either.

7 Comments

  1. JK says

    “…This is just unbelievable – by which I mean I don’t believe it. It makes no sense, and serves no purpose…”

    Correcti Mundo Analyst Pollack – grab your books and move up to the front row of the class.

    “All” the potential targets are “known.” That means IMINT and cannot be HUMINT.

    (May have to get back later, my region’s Internet is just now kinda twitchy.)

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 3:19 pm | Permalink
  2. Dr. Strangelove says

    A whole lot of saber rattling and big talk but the devil is in the details. The odds of an attack seem slim if we assume the intelligence of the decision makers in Israel. The ramifications of an attack are likely very high, whereas the benefits are likely (crippling the program and pushing it back a handful of years) small. The most recent Economist did a report on the issue and it all points to absurdity of this AP report as well as the likelihood that all of the this chatter is just that and nothing more.

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 5:58 pm | Permalink
  3. “The ramifications of an attack are likely very high, whereas the benefits are likely (crippling the program and pushing it back a handful of years) small.”

    And we know this, how? You have done the math, I presume, and you are privy to all available intelligence, no doubt?

    I thought I had seen it all, in the pontifications of the One-eyed Man, in these pages. But to presume to know enough detail about the existential struggle of a nation-state, by someone who is privy to information, and/or to disinformation, that is available to the world at large, and without so much as an “IMHO”, is the height of hubris.

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 8:15 pm | Permalink
  4. Dr. Strangelove says

    Sorry BigHenry if my comment came off as if I believe I have any great insight on the actual probabilities of all the potentialities and the magnitude of the costs if they are actualized. I mention the source at the end of my comment (The Economist) and considering your response I should have made it clearer that all I was doing was linking that information to the AP article that Malcolm had posted.

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 9:37 pm | Permalink
  5. Sorry Dr. S; I should have considered more carefully the context of your comment.

    It is fairly obvious there is an extremely high-stakes poker game in progress between Israel, the U.S., and Iran, among others, none of whom have complete knowledge of the goals and intentions of the other players. But it is also obvious that the slightest miscalculation on the part of Israel could be catastrophic for that beleaguered nation, given the Jew-hating machinations of all the duplicitous agents arrayed against them, including the editorial staffs of the Economist and the Associated Press.

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
  6. JK says

    Just a thought TBH… not likely to be anytime soon though.

    Pull US Forces out of Afghanistan. ASAP. That’d very likely focus the attention of one of those poker players you mention. Of course I know the Chinese have some mineral rights that “might” complicate the game. But I do think it’d be worth a try.

    Next time you’re at a White House dinner TBH, might try getting the President’s ear.

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 10:58 pm | Permalink
  7. “Next time you’re at a White House dinner TBH, might try getting the President’s ear.”

    Ha! Fat chance of that happening, JK. Besides, “silk purses and sow’s ears” don’t compute, just to throw some metaphors into the mix …

    Posted February 29, 2012 at 11:25 pm | Permalink

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