Israeli leaders – in the midst of a growing domestic scandal, interestingly – threaten to attack Iran, which would be an act of war and perhaps provoke the holocaust – if they will pardon the expression – that they claim to want to avoid.
They’d take alot of wind out of Iranian sails if they just made peace with their neighbors, especially the Palestinians.
This wouldn’t be “appeasement.” Letting Israel hang on to the Illegally-Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights, and attack her neighbors Lebanon and Syria with impunity and out of all scale to the problem that was emanating therefrom, is appeasement. Letting Israel continue to make innocent Palestinians’ lives hell on earth, and not pay for the excessive devastation in Lebanon, is appeasement. Letting Israel perch the whole planet on the precipice of World War III / Global Jihad / World Crusade for its own shortsighted, misguided, narrow policies and international noncooperation and dictation, is appeasement. Bu’ushist threats of a nuclear first-strike against a non-nuclear Iran, besides illegal in themselves, are an appeasement of Israel. New French “neocon” threats of a similar nature are shockingly disappointing for this formerly-responsible member of the world community, as well as appeasement and “red meat” for their “base” in France and the U.S. US and French disingenuousness is similarly appeasement.
Iran is most definitely not “a direct threat to the national security of the United States and our allies,” because we have no treatied allies under Iranian “threat.” Such a statement is ignorant of the situation at International Law as it currently stands. Iran is a nation of more than 70 million population, a modern State and economy, and a major world culture. It cannot be simply ordered around like some tribal sheikdom or Third-World Banana Republic. Bu’ushists bluster in perfect Middle Eastern fashion, while “the West” claims to be heir to a better-developed international legal and diplomatic tradition. Bush thus gives the lie to Western claims, makes Mideasterners nervous, and they would reasonably feel the need to prepare to defend themselves against violations of their territorial sovereignty, even if they weren’t making such preparations, as Iran, and US and international intelligence estimates claim they are not. (Of course, reason is not something the Bu’ushists are known for, as they belittle The Reality-Based Community!)
The real rogue states in this process so far are Israel, the US, and now France also.
American Red Tory 