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Attacking Iran will mean attacking Iran, Russia and China, if Putin gets his wish.

Reader comment on item: Today's Iran Debate Misses the Point
in response to reader comment: failure to launch

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Apr 10, 2015 at 18:58

Hi, Frankz. You said,

The point of the agreement is not to stop Iran developing their Nuclear arsenal. It's to deligitimize any steps that might be taken against them. Including obviously any action Israel might take.

I agree. I also agree with Daniel, that the Lausanne agreement is irrelevant. I might add to what you said, that the point of the whole G5+1 process, whether it leads to a sham agreement or no, is to delegitimatize any effective action Israel or anyonw makes against Iran. As long as Iran keeps seeming like it wants to keep talking, a diplomatic bubble envelops it, protecting it psychologically from all harm -- and the bubble generator is, of course, Barack Obama, who is intentionally using the talks as a means to hamstring Israel.

The talks are irrelevant; because with or without the talks, Obama will make every effort to delegitimize Israel and make her vulnerable to annihilation. Israel has the choice of striking at a time convenient to it, or waiting for the inevitable closing in my the US-led world community. The situation is different only in scale, from the choice the inmates at Warsaw, Auschwitz and Sobibor had to make.

In the case of the inmates, every day they waited meant thousands of Jews getting physically killed. Today, the stakes do not seem so high; but we should remember that in the death camps, the extermination of the Jewish people was a slow, continuous process. The "Final Solution" the world has today, is a nuclear strike, or causing Israel to pay the ransom to avoid a nuclear strike.

Once Israel allows Iran the capacity to create a deliverable nuclear arsenal, she makes herself vulnerable to complete destruction on a few minutes' notice. That simply is not an option: Even the "Samson option" of guaranteed retaliation from, say, Dolphin submarine-launched cruise missiles, would have little effect on a fanatical, suicidal Islamist leadership in Iran. Once Iran has nukes, Israel is immediately doomed; and the Israeli people ought to know that.

Putting out Iran's nukes will not end Israel's dilemna; but it is nonetheless necessary. After Israel has taken out vital links in the Iranian nuclear chain, making it prohibitively costly to rebuild, other regional players, particularly Turkey, may be tempted to pick up the nuclear banner. The example of Iran, though, would probably suffice to inform them that this is not a good idea. Their alternative would be an all-out conventional assault on Israel, which Israel ought to be prepared to deal with. I doubt that Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be eager to have the Turks win, creating a new Ottoman Empire with them as subjects, so they would probably sit out this one; but countries farther afield, such as Libya, Sudan and especially Iran (which by then will effectively include lower Iraq) will probably join in.

The alternative to the above, should any Jews still think there really is an alternative, would be for Israel to hunker down into its bunks, Auschwitz-style, as the Iranians emplace missile after missile, Hizbullah-style. In fact, with the Hizzies unter their thumb, the Iranians don't even need to launch from Iran; they can do so from Lebanon or Syria; so it's just a matter of trucking the warheads over to emplace them in hidden entrenchments under communities near the Israeli border. It would be as simple as it was for the Germans to brick in the Warsaw Ghetto, or to string barbed wire and plant mines around Sobibor.

So, the choice is Israel's: To attack Iran in a timely way, risking a Turkish counter-attack, or to wait until Iran gets nukes... then wait some more, while it encircles Israel with launching sites... then wait some more; because waiting becomes a habit; and if one won't act today because of fear of reprisal, that reprisal will be even bigger tomorrow.

Israel has a great deal of control, over what happens in the Middle East. It cannot control what happens in Washington, Brussels, Moscow, China, New Dehli, Islamabad, etc. Those countries have their own interests, balanced against one another; and events in the Middle East are of tangential importance. The Suez Crisis of 1956, and the Beirut Intervention of 1982, as well as the Obama "Red Line" episode of 2013, show how ineffective these superpowers are in the area, as they elbow and trip up one another. Israel should not seriously be deterred by what they think or do, when its very survival is at stake.

Vladimir Putin recently said that he is in favor of Iran becoming a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- something which, if started now, should become operational next year or so. That would be a complete game-changer: Once that is in place, an attack on Iran would effectively be an attack on Iran, Russia and China combined. I don't think it would be wise, for Israel to wait until that is the case.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (43) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
BEFORE and AFTER are 180° rotated from each other [21 words]Michael SJun 13, 2015 04:57223794
1A Flawed Assumption [136 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
JohnApr 14, 2015 08:30222851
2An Israeli strike would probably nix Iran's nuke weapon program for good. [320 words]Michael SApr 16, 2015 04:05222851
Nothing will strengthen the Ayatollah more than getting nuclear weapons. [138 words]DanApr 21, 2015 20:37222851
2Obama will not attack Iran; Israel has to do it. [442 words]Michael SApr 22, 2015 03:44222851
On Second Thought - An Iranian Nuclear Threat Will Hurt Them More Than Help Them [273 words]M. ToveyApr 23, 2015 19:08222851
The only power that can defeat the West, is the West itself [511 words]Michael SApr 25, 2015 05:18222851
1To the Ayatollah: "Make my day" [344 words]Michael SApr 28, 2015 21:04222851
Isaiah 13:6; Make MY Day, says the Eternal Sovereign of Israel [217 words]M. ToveyMay 1, 2015 11:31222851
Yes, it is God, Who's day they will make [577 words]Michael SMay 10, 2015 05:05222851
Golan, the Front Door; Megiddo, the Porch; Jerusalem, the Salon. [8 words]M. ToveyMay 11, 2015 11:08222851
Yet; "In That Day"; the Day is Approaching; is Approaching Indeed [218 words]M. ToveyMay 14, 2015 11:21222851
Economic upsets ahead? The implications of an Israeli attack on Iran [676 words]Michael SMay 17, 2015 04:38222851
Psalm 83 phase (attack on Israel by Arab neighbors) is essentially over [435 words]Michael SMay 18, 2015 22:40222851
Economic Upsets Will Be the Least of the World's Woes If Israel is Not Left in Peace [161 words]M. ToveyMay 20, 2015 11:29222851
Closure for Psalm 83 - Nearly Done- But Not Quite Over [86 words]M. ToveyMay 20, 2015 16:10222851
1200,000,000 men [511 words]Michael SMay 27, 2015 04:33222851
The Arabs and Armageddon [2053 words]Michael SMay 27, 2015 10:58222851
1A bigger point that no one has mentioned [30 words]Roslyn FranklApr 9, 2015 21:50222791
Draining the right side of the tub [341 words]Michael SMay 28, 2015 18:20222791
1Pipes hit it on the nail [94 words]SOL SApr 9, 2015 17:50222789
3Will Iran be attacked ... or taken out ? [72 words]Jon, a Brit in EurolandApr 9, 2015 11:36222780
Iran does not want war.... [293 words]Steve WisemanApr 9, 2015 10:55222777
"Steve Wiseman"- liar, taqiyya artist [48 words]JIMJFOXMay 3, 2015 06:16222777
There is a Way [96 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Barry BlackApr 9, 2015 10:24222775
failure to launch [147 words]FrankzApr 8, 2015 23:59222769
2Attacking Iran will mean attacking Iran, Russia and China, if Putin gets his wish. [824 words]Michael SApr 10, 2015 18:58222769
It Will Be the Point of an Arrow that Concludes the Iranian Debate [451 words]M. ToveyApr 16, 2015 14:05222769
The Valley of Jehosaphat [796 words]Michael SMay 18, 2015 10:29222769
Holy Bible Filled With Biblically Charged Poetry and Acrostics-All Pointing to One Thing [232 words]M. ToveyMay 20, 2015 11:54222769
how can the agreement not be an issue? [148 words]David BlochApr 8, 2015 20:02222762
The US is in danger of great folly. [317 words]Michael SMay 29, 2015 02:39222762
Bingo [166 words]AlexApr 8, 2015 16:59222759
WILL ISRAEL BOMB IRAN, [112 words]Jacques HadidaApr 8, 2015 16:09222758
Thank you! [175 words]Doug MayfieldApr 8, 2015 14:04222757
Alarming [72 words]Barry BlackApr 8, 2015 10:37222753
Bibi and Iran [39 words]Roslyn FranklApr 8, 2015 08:41222752
1the issue [30 words]MarkApr 8, 2015 07:46222751
You neglect [126 words]yuvalApr 8, 2015 04:59222748
Iran is much more difficult to attack [118 words]Lars NielsenApr 8, 2015 02:29222744
Too late? [56 words]JIMJFOXApr 8, 2015 02:05222743
To bomb or not to bomb! [65 words]steven LApr 8, 2015 00:47222741
'Bunker buster' [16 words]JIMJFOXMay 6, 2015 00:12222741

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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