Netanyahu’s Necessary Crankiness

We can afford to be overly optimistic about Iran, but Israel can’t.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online 

So far, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s peace ruse is still bearing some fruit. Photo Credit:  Downing Street via FlickrPresident Obama was eager to talk with him at the United Nations — only to be reportedly rebuffed, until Obama managed to phone him for the first conversation between heads of state of the two countries since the Iranian storming of the U.S. embassy in 1979.

Rouhani has certainly wowed Western elites with his mellifluous voice, quiet demeanor, and denials of wanting a bomb. The media, who ignore the circumstances of Rouhani’s three-decade trajectory to power, gush that he is suddenly a “moderate” and “Western-educated.” Continue reading “Netanyahu’s Necessary Crankiness”

Mideast Nuclear Holocaust

by Raymond Ibrahim // FrontPage Magazine 

A Review of The Last Israelis by Noah Beck

lliAfter constant exposure to critically important news, it begins to lose all meaning and sense of urgency.  Hearing the same warnings over and over again—especially when the status quo seems static—can cause a certain desensitization, a resigned apathy that ignores the warnings in the wishful hope that they won’t materialize.  This hope becomes more optimistic (and passive) with each passing day that the warnings do not materialize.

One of the most evident examples of this phenomenon is the threat of a nuclear Iran.  For years, the international community has been hearing about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons; for years, the world has been hearing Iran make bold, genocidal threats—most notoriously, that it will wipe the state of Israel off the map. But so far, Iran reportedly still has no nukes, and no large attack has been launched on Israel.  Thus, many have become desensitized to the situation—including those charged with ensuring that a nuclear Iran never becomes a reality. Continue reading “Mideast Nuclear Holocaust”

The Israeli Spring

Israel’s enemies are doing more damage to each other than Israel ever could.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Israel could be forgiven for having a siege mentality — given that at any moment, old frontline enemies Syria and Egypt might spill their violence over common borders.

The Arab Spring has thrown Israel’s once-predictable adversaries into the chaotic state of a Sudan or Somalia. The old understandings between Jerusalem and the Assad and Mubarak kleptocracies seem in limbo.

Yet these tragic Arab revolutions swirling around Israel are paradoxically aiding it, both strategically and politically — well beyond just the erosion of conventional Arab military strength. Continue reading “The Israeli Spring”

Ripples from the Election

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Now that the election is over, we are starting to see the contours of what lies ahead for the next four years. Here are some likely consequences from the Obama victory. Continue reading “Ripples from the Election”

The Absurdity of Treating a Terrorist Gang Like a State

by Bruce Thornton

Frontpage Magazine

The currently suspended missile duel between Israel and Hamas exposes yet again the surreal absurdity of the way the international community handles this conflict between a democratic state and a terrorist gang. Yesterday’s cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas is another example of the folly of treating a bunch of murderers like a legitimate government. Continue reading “The Absurdity of Treating a Terrorist Gang Like a State”

World Order, Under Siege?

by Victor Davis Hanson

Defining Ideas

What seems sometimes incomprehensible in the contemporary world makes perfect sense — if we pause and study a little history.
Continue reading “World Order, Under Siege?”

The Humpty-Dumpty Middle East

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

The United States is backing off from the Middle East — and the Middle East from the United States. Continue reading “The Humpty-Dumpty Middle East”

The Obama Foreign Policy

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The 2012 election will hinge on the economy, not on US foreign policy, unless there is a major overseas crisis — an Israeli attack on Iran, an Iranian detonation of a nuclear weapon, a Middle East war, a North Korean attack, or something of that sort. Continue reading “The Obama Foreign Policy”

The Bad/Good Idea of Removing Assad

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Who could not despise the tottering Bashar al-Assad dictatorship in Syria?
Continue reading “The Bad/Good Idea of Removing Assad”

The New Anti-Semitism

by Victor Davis Hanson

Defining Ideas

Not long ago, The Economist ran an unsigned editorial called the “Auschwitz Complex.” The unnamed author blamed serial Middle East tensions on both Israel’s unwarranted sense of victimhood, accrued from the Holocaust, and its unwillingness to “to give up its empire.” Continue reading “The New Anti-Semitism”