Is America Bribing Bibi, or Blackmailing Him?
Interesting piece from the Economist on military assistance from the US in return for temporary agreements on settlements. As another Economist blogger quips - paying for peace processes with military jets is like paying for carbon offsets in Hummers. A sticky situation, surely. Will be interesting to see where it goes.
Military Capabilities for Hybrid War; Insights from the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon and Gaza
Newly released paper from the RAND Corporation commissioned by the US Army detailing some new lessons learned from the Israeli - Lebanon conflict. (via Defense Industry Daily)
Syria Gives Scuds to Hezbollah, U.S. Says...
Aw hell… That said, it’s posted in the Wall Street Journal and the sources quoted are “Israeli and U.S. Officials” with no names, either way, I agree with the sentiment that “that’s how wars start”.
Israel Strains a Relationship with Jerusalem Settlements
“Thanks for your unflinching support VP Biden. We really appreciate you making this trip to Israel to show your support. By the way, we kinda have a bunch of people building stuff against your wishes, just so you know. Rewrite your speeches? Nah, just go ahead and give your support like you would have if we hadn’t totally screwed you and made you look like a fool. Thanks buddy.” - Israel
Yeah… there will be some wrath for this. Not enough to really matter, but at some point, Israel will realize that the United States can cut their funding, spending, and parts, and distance ourselves from their meathead (*cough* Abu Dhabi *cough*) tactics and cause some difficulty. Sure, you’re key allies, but at what point are we actually going to put some teeth behind our words and send some scorn their way. Shit, just make a back room deal that it’s all for the media and call it a day - SOMETHING that’s less embarrassing than this.
It’s bad enough that any Israeli action is assumed to have U.S. Support by the Arab community - looking forward to the day when we don’t continue to foster said message in our foreign policy, and when the U.S. can truly say “we condemn this action” and not look like hypocrites / idiots, if at least it’s just to the TV cameras.
Mossad Puts Our "Big Brother" in Perspective
So, in addition to alleged international targeted homicide, they are also suspected of stealing citizens’ identity to get across the border? Kinda makes our current system of checks and balances look pretty good huh?
That said, see the link I posted earlier to an article on JSOC having US citizens on their list. Perhaps we’ve just been bitten enough taking big leaps (see Bay of Pigs) that there are now political barriers to that kind of thing… who knows.
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A strategy consultant with a passion for IT, geopolitics, economics, and the open ocean. Awed by simple, innovative solutions to difficult problems. This represents my favorite slices of the web and serves as networked storage for my brain which is now entirely pointer-based. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of any organization with which I may or may not be allegedly associated.
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