Of course nobody really talks about the capabilities of the two nations and how Israel out guns everybody in the region and that it has a standing preemptive strategy. I also doubt that Syria will serve as an Iranian proxy as they have lost all the wars they have fought against Israel.

Hezbollah is more concerned with Lebanese internal politics than Israel (it came to being as an anti-occupation force in Southern Lebanon). Iranian leadership maybe fiery but their not suicidal. And a 200:0 ratio in nuclear arms (and without an effective way to guarantee delivery of that weapon if they had it) Israel is in no danger from disappearing because of the inane threats by the Iranian leadership de...

Of course nobody really talks about the capabilities of the two nations and how Israel out guns everybody in the region and that it has a standing preemptive strategy. I also doubt that Syria will serve as an Iranian proxy as they have lost all the wars they have fought against Israel.

Hezbollah is more concerned with Lebanese internal politics than Israel (it came to being as an anti-occupation force in Southern Lebanon). Iranian leadership maybe fiery but their not suicidal. And a 200:0 ratio in nuclear arms (and without an effective way to guarantee delivery of that weapon if they had it) Israel is in no danger from disappearing because of the inane threats by the Iranian leadership desperately trying to detract their own people from their internal problems.

There's a tad of truth in what you say Rat, but there's so much more to all of it. Israel is not suicidal but mahmoud ahmadinejad seems to be on a mission of bringing in his messiah and dead-set on destroying Israel. Do sane people ignore what a mad-man is saying? Only at their peril.

To say that Israel "out guns" everyone in the area might have been true in the very recent past; but the climate has changed radically over the last year and even months. Those you mentioned have internal issues...correct; but they also have a common and on-going goal that Iran is feeding and financing.

And "disappearing"??...perhaps not. Biblically it will not. But, as a nation, they have been bombed a...

There's a tad of truth in what you say Rat, but there's so much more to all of it. Israel is not suicidal but mahmoud ahmadinejad seems to be on a mission of bringing in his messiah and dead-set on destroying Israel. Do sane people ignore what a mad-man is saying? Only at their peril.

To say that Israel "out guns" everyone in the area might have been true in the very recent past; but the climate has changed radically over the last year and even months. Those you mentioned have internal issues...correct; but they also have a common and on-going goal that Iran is feeding and financing.

And "disappearing"??...perhaps not. Biblically it will not. But, as a nation, they have been bombed and blown up for over 40+ years. They've negotiated, given up land, appeased to not avail. They've endured full-fledged attacks from Arab countries before. The stakes are even higher now and the potential for more deadly damage is unprecedented.

The IDF is second to none in the region, the Gulf States may have some advance air forces, but neither numbers or the will to attack Israel (and the Israeli lobby makes sure that the technology transfers are limited) same with Egypt who is a US ally, those F-16 would not fly for long if the U.S. pulled the supply plug. Jordan is in a similar situation Lebanon is fraqmentated and Syria is virtually alone equipped with Cold War castoffs. So the balance of power is very much in the IDF favor without throwing in 200 nuclear warheads into the mix. Israel has nothing to fear from its neighbors.

As for Iran, well we have one guy who is about to depart office saying one thing, yet negotiating beca...

The IDF is second to none in the region, the Gulf States may have some advance air forces, but neither numbers or the will to attack Israel (and the Israeli lobby makes sure that the technology transfers are limited) same with Egypt who is a US ally, those F-16 would not fly for long if the U.S. pulled the supply plug. Jordan is in a similar situation Lebanon is fraqmentated and Syria is virtually alone equipped with Cold War castoffs. So the balance of power is very much in the IDF favor without throwing in 200 nuclear warheads into the mix. Israel has nothing to fear from its neighbors.

As for Iran, well we have one guy who is about to depart office saying one thing, yet negotiating because his real bosses are not stupid enough to put a nuclear crosshair on their foreheads. Bomb Iran and you give the more radical elements inside the goverment a green light to set the Gulf on fire (not that they need that much encouragement to begin with).

$4.00 a gallon, imagine if the Strait of Hormuz was closed to traffic for a week or even a month?

It is not naive, just look at the IDF order of battle, if anything its only weakness it is complacency. I don't have a dog in this fight because I don't want the fight in the first place. Thats the problem, the fight doesn't end, and in part that is to the benefit current Israeli leadership. Peace is the biggest threat to their power because if peace does break out then Israelis would have to look long and hard at their politics and that would be truly revolutionary.

The Iranians and Hamas are stupid enough to play to likudist/neocon cliches and narratives for their own narrow gains. The winners are the political leaders on all sides who use conflict (or the appearance of threats) to gain a...

It is not naive, just look at the IDF order of battle, if anything its only weakness it is complacency. I don't have a dog in this fight because I don't want the fight in the first place. Thats the problem, the fight doesn't end, and in part that is to the benefit current Israeli leadership. Peace is the biggest threat to their power because if peace does break out then Israelis would have to look long and hard at their politics and that would be truly revolutionary.

The Iranians and Hamas are stupid enough to play to likudist/neocon cliches and narratives for their own narrow gains. The winners are the political leaders on all sides who use conflict (or the appearance of threats) to gain and keep power. The losers are everyone else who gets caught in the middle of the tanks, rockets and bombs.