Two Thirds Done

Thoughts and experiences of an eighty one year old Wild Duck.

Avram Miller by the sea
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587 posts since 2006

Tag: Iran

  • One Election Is a Mistake. Two Are a Choice.

    At what point do citizens become responsible for the actions of their government?

    As a dual American and Israeli citizen, I have found myself living with this question on two fronts.

    When Trump was first elected in 2016, he lost the popular vote. Many Americans did not support him. Voter turnout was low, and it was possible to argue that the outcome did not fully reflect the will of the people. I struggled with whether the American people were responsible. My conclusion, at the time, was that they were at least in part. Not because they all supported him, but because too many either supported him or chose not to oppose him. In a democracy, indifference is not neutral. It is a form of participation.

    Then came 2020. Americans made a different choice and Trump lost. A correction was made, and that mattered. Democracies make mistakes, but in 2020 America corrected itself.

    Then came 2024, and the same choice was presented again. This time Trump was elected with a majority of the vote. It is hard to argue now that the outcome is accidental or circumstantial. A pattern is not a mistake.

    Israel, for me, has felt different so far.

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  • Israel’s actions and its impact on the Jewish Diaspora

    Most Israeli Jews think of themselves first as Israelis and second as Jews. Regarding the Jewish diaspora, they generally believe that one of Israel’s core purposes, the Zionist mission, is to provide a safe haven for Jews. While I disagree with the actions of the current Israeli government, I subscribe to this belief myself. I am a Zionist and believe that the Jewish people must have their own homeland if they are to survive.

    Unfortunately, this movement has been distorted under Netanyahu and his coalition, particularly through the support of the settler movement and the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. While I understand the desire for an Israel that encompasses the heart of the ancient Jewish homeland in Judea and Samaria, we must also recognize that Palestinians have a legitimate claim. Regrettably, they do not reciprocate by accepting the right of Jews to their own homeland.

    As I have written previously, I believe the future of the diaspora is already in jeopardy due to intermarriage and declining birthrates. While Israel’s actions since October 7, 2023, have contributed significantly to the rapid rise of antisemitism, they did not cause it; they merely gave expression to the latent antisemitism that characterizes much of the Western world.

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  • Lebanon, a Country I Will Never be Able to Visit

    As I approach 80 years, I often think of the countries I will never visit.  Since the age of 18 in 1963, when I became a Merchant Seaman and sailed around Asia, I have traveled worldwide, and I am still doing that.  Fortunately, I am very healthy and have the financial means to travel.  Since my semi-retirement about 20 years ago, my wife and I have traveled about four months a year.  We love exploring new areas and returning to our favorites.  We have friends all over the world.  

    It was in 2011, during the significant unrest and revolution in Egypt resulting from the Arab Spring, that I realized that we should visit all the places that were high on our bucket list (I’m not too fond of that term) when we could because things could happen that could prevent us from visiting in the future.  High up on that list was Egypt. By 2017, we felt comfortable visiting Egypt and had a fantastic experience.  We flew directly from Israel.  We thought we might have a short window.  

    We wanted to visit St Petersburg, Russia, in 2018 and almost did that.  Now, I doubt that I will ever see that city.  I can;t imagine going to Russia.

    I have wanted to visit Lebanon for many years, particularly Beirut, its capital, formerly referred to as the Paris of the Middle East.  After marrying Deborah in 2003, I became even more interested.  Deborah’s father’s whole family is from Lebanon, although they came to the USA around the 1900s.  Her father grew up in a Lebanese community near Pittsburgh, PA.  They were Greek Orthodox Lebanese from a small mountain town called Bazbina.  http://www.bazbina.com/web1/site.php?home

    We moved to Israel in 2015 and lived there until 2023. Deborah and I traveled a great deal throughout Israel. Often, we would spend time in the north of Israel, which is very beautiful. Such travels would take us to the borders of both Lebanon and Syria. We could get close to villages in Lebanon, close enough to hear people talk. Once, I saw Hezbollah troops so close that I could call out to them, which, of course, I did not.  

    Deborah wanted to visit Lebanon, but I was concerned and did not feel it would be safe for me as an Israeli citizen (dual national).  However, we did consider it because I had developed friendships with several prominent Lebanese citizens, including the current prime minister’s brother. I was assured we would be safe, but I did not want to take a chance.

    One such friend offered to arrange a trip for us to Lebanon.  He was a cousin of the then Prime Minister, Saad Hariri.  My friend said he would arrange everything through his cousin and we would be safe.  I still declined. I would have taken anyone less than a minute on Google to find out that I held Israeli citizenship and was living in Tel Aviv.  Good thing as a few weeks later, Harri was arrested in Saudi Arabia.  

    Lebanon is a country that has been ruined by Islamic terrorists, in particular, Hezbollah, which has Iran as its backer.  Most of the Christians have left. The country is made up of two Muslim factions, Shiite and Sunni, about a half million Palestinian refugees (some of which are third or fourth generation refugees), and almost a million Syrian refugees in a country within country with a population of about 5.5 million.

    The destruction of Lebanon can not be blamed on the Israelis.  It is an example of what could happen if the Palestinians got a state. Now Israel has no choice but to defend itself from Hezbollah, and if Hezbollah attacks the main population centers of Israel, there will not be much left over of Lebanon.

    As I write this, there is almost a whole war going on between Hezbollah and Israel. If it becomes a full-out war, there will not be any winners other than possibly Iran, although I doubt even that.

    There are very few countries left that we want to visit for the first time.  Madagascar is probably the top one, followed by Chile.  Lebanon would have been on the top of that list.

  • Why does Iran want to destroy Israel

    To understand situation in Israel now, one has to understand the role of Iran. Most people know that Iran is the center of all the terrorist activities directed at Israel by its proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Some of the terrorist actions originating from the West Bank do not have a direct linkage to the Iranians.

    Why does Iran, a country located more than a thousand miles from Israel, and 80 times larger, hate it so much and want to destroy it? Do they care about the Palestinians, who are Sunni Arabs, while Iran is Shiite (think Catholic and Protestant but much more extreme)?

    We have to go back to before 1979 and the Iranian Revolution. At that time, about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Today, there are less than 10,000. Before the revolution, they were very successful and played a major role in Iran. Most moved to the United States, particularly LA, where they were highly successful.

    Iran had been a big supporter of Israel when it was formed. It was the second Muslim country to recognize the state of Israel. The first state was Turkey.

    Israel and Iran had a strategic relationship, including cooperation in military activities. Israel provided security services for Iran’s ruler, the Shaw.

    Before the revolution in 1979, I lived in Israel and visited Iran several times for business. I loved Tehran. Everything changed with the revolution. There is so much history here, but too much for me to relate. The relationship between the USA and Iran became very combative. The new ultra-religious government blamed the USA for many things that happened in the past. In Nov 1979, militant Iranian students took over the American Embassy and held 55 Americans Hostages for 444 days. Jim Carter was president, and this was a critical factor in his losing his second term.

    The Iranian leaders show the USA as the Great Satan and Israel as the Little Satan. Iran had many issues with its neighbor, Iraq. This resulted in a war that lasted between 1980 and 1988. This conflict and continuing problems with Iraq served to keep Iran in check. All this was changed by one of the greatest blunders made in modern times—the attack on Iraq by the USA in March of 2003. Removing Iran’s strategic enemy created the mess we now have. We can thank George Bush for that. We can also thank Saudi Arabia for 9/11.

    In the late 80s, Iran started to support Palestinian resistance to Israel, including Hamas, which is a Sunni group. I suppose that the Iranian government, led by religious zealots, could not stand the idea that Jews would live anywhere in the Middle East, but mostly, they saw Israel as the ally of the USA. Hezbollah started in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. They are a Shiite group.

    We can only imagine what would have happened if Iran had ended up with a government more like Turkey. The Iranians are a charming people. With a different government, the country would have prospered. The country was blessed with an abundance of oil.

    Iran is also in a cold war with Saudi Arabia, which is also seen as a US ally.

    I believe there will be no peace in the Middle East until the current Iranian government is overthrown.

    The government under Netanyahu has focused on Iran as an existential threat to Israel. In that, he is correct. By the way, I think he is a horrible person. He has sought to get the USA to take action that would lead to a regime change in Iran, but the US has not been willing to go that far. However, I think it will end up there. It should take action now before Iran has atomic weapons.

    Please consider the impact the Iranians have had on the Palestinians. How has that worked out? And how has the hatred of Israel worked out for the Iranians? There are only losers in this conflict.

  • The Situation in Israel-Some Current Thoughts

    The situation between Israel and Palestine and their respective supporters is highly polarized. As a Jew and as an Israeli (I was born in the USA and am still a citizen of that country as well), I am generally aligned with the Israeli side, but I hate writing that because I wish there were no sides in the first place.

    Writing this blog post has been a struggle. I have many thoughts and have not found an adequate way to connect them, so I have decided to write them down with the hope that, somehow, this post will come together.

    OCCUPATION of the West Bank and Gaza (1967 war)

    After the 1948 War of Independence, Jordan occupied the West Bank, and Egypt occupied Gaza. There was no thought of establishing a Palestinian State by Jordan or Egypt. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, made it part of Jordan, and conveyed Jordanian Citizenship to its inhabitants. The Egyptians did not do that in Gaza. The Eqyptians despise the Palestinians, as far as I can see.

    In 1967, there was a war between Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, the Six-Day War. Israel won quickly and decidedly and occupied the West Bank and Gaza (Egypt had not annexed Gaza). Israel held on to the West Bank and Gaza with the mistaken belief that they could trade these areas for peace with Jordan and Egypt. But neither Jordan nor Egypt wanted these territories back. The reasons are very revealing but the subject of another blog post. If the West Bank was part of Jordan, that situation would have emerged very differently, although hard to predict.

    How the Israeli Government’s strategies put Israel at existential risk

    There have been times when Israel was ready to support a Palestinian state. That support cost the life of Rabin in 1995 (because of the Oslo Accords). The blame for not reaching an agreement lies on both sides. 

    Israel began to let Israelis move to the area occupied in the six-day war. This was partly allowed for security reasons but also was politically motivated. Establishing settlements other than ones that were contiguous to Israel proper (and would have become part of Israel in a land swap peace accord) did not make Israel safer. It created a tremendous economic burden on the state to protect the settlers. It created even greater hostility amongst the Palestinians and made much of the world hostile to Israel. If the purpose was security, it failed miserably.  

    The settlements create a significant impediment to a two-state solution. While many of the “settlements” would be part of Israel proper in a land swap, there are several settlements that are all over the West Bank, which ended up sliced and diced with Israeli roads. The settlers are, in many cases, fanatic due to religious or just nationalistic views. In a rational world, the Palestinians would offer the settlers the ability to stay in the West Bank as residents, pay taxes, and contribute to the development of Palestine, but that indeed would not have been the case. The settlers would be forced to leave the West Bank. They would not go peacefully, resulting in a mini civil war.

    Israel has worked to subvert the development of a Palestinian state by subverting the development of a strong government in the West Bank. They have supported the corrupt head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. They provided financial support to Hamas. They would argue that they could not deal with the Palestinians as there was no one to represent them in total.  

    I could go on and on with the mistakes of the Israeli Government and even the arm. I can use just one word to express my thinking: “Hubris.”

    There must be a Palestinian State, but there can not be a one

    I have always wanted to see a state for the Palestinians but had concluded that there was no way to accomplish this without putting Israel at risk. I believed in the “kick the can down the road” strategy. Now I see how wrong I was. Preventing a Palestinian state on the borders of Israel did not provide security for Israel, as can be seen by the horrific events of Oct. 7th. But it is precisely because of those events that Israelis will be even more resistant to establishing a state for the Palestinians anytime in the next 25 years. Palestinians hate the Israeli Jews and are committed to the destruction of Israel. They have been taught in school to hate the Jews. It is not easy to overcome this kind of hatred. It is possible, but it takes time. Vietnam is a good example. The war ended in 1975. It took 20 more years for diplomatic relations to be established. But this is not a great comparison. Vietnam lies almost 8,000 miles to the west of the USA. Palestine would be on the border of Israel, just miles from Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport.  

    The best we can hope for is a gradual path to a sovereign Palestinian nation. After what was done to Israelis on Oct. 7th, how can anyone expect Israel to allow the Palestinians the ability to do the same but now from the West Bank? It will take a generation. It would also require some radical thinking. I hope to share my ideas in this regard soon.

    Israel is far weaker than was thought.

    I, for one, thought that Israel was much stronger than it has shown itself in this current war, which demonstrated a significant failure of intelligence and imagination. Not only do I realize this now, but all those against Israel as well. Significantly, Iran has been boosted in its desire to rid the world of Israel and probably all Jews.  

    Israel’s system of Government has been shown to have serious issues, and the country is now run by a man who is more interested in his own self-preservation than that of the nation he is supposed to lead. As long as Netanyahu is the Prime Minister, there is no hope for a solution. He plays the role of a Strong Man, but he is the weakest Prime Minister in Israeli history. Unfortunately, removing him will be difficult unless his own party members turn against him. It could happen. I think there will be more demonstrations against the current Government. But Netanyahu knows that if he is no longer Prime Minister, he will likely end up in Jail. He would not be the first Israeli Prime Minister to see the inside of a prison cell.

    Israel’s army is too small to fight a war in the North and the South. It relies on its air power. If Hezbollah strikes Israel in the North, Israel will have no choice but to use all the air power it has to destroy them and probably most of Lebanon. Hezbollah knows this, which is why they have shown caution, but Israel will probably be the aggressor. Currently, almost 100k Israelis who normally live near the northern border live in temporary housing. After the massacre of Oct. 7th, the Government decided to evacuate the towns that are along the north of border rather than take the risk that Hezbollah would enter Israel and commit the atrocities that Hamas did, but probably on a much larger scale. This situation can not go on indefinitely. Israel is threatening Hezbollah and telling them to back away from the border, but Hezbollah will not do that. I suspect a war in the North within the next three months.

    Iran is stronger than was thought.

    Iran has surrounded Israel with Proxey, Hamas in the South, and, to a lesser extent, in the West Bank, Hezbollah in the North, and even now, the Houties in Yemen. I believe that Iran is working with Russia as well as Russia is hoping to destabilize the USA. However, Iran may take on more risk than it is prepared for. Israel and, indeed, the USA can do substantial damage to Iran. But in the process, Iran would attack Israel with missiles. They would block the Strait of Hormuz, maybe damage the Suez Canal, and generally play havoc with the world oil supply.  

    The USA Election

    All this is going on while the USA will be deciding on who will lead that country. Russia is undoubtedly hoping that Trump wins again. But Trump is a wild card (and I am being kind), and no one can predict his behavior, including his willingness to use nuclear weapons. Getting the USA embroiled in a war with Iran would likely help Trump win. Biden must know that, and this will make it difficult for him as he considers his strategic options.

    The significance of continued Antisemitism 

    It is still with us. Soon after the war started, I began seeing some Israelis leaving Israel. In a sense, I am one, although my personal story is more complex than a reaction to the war. I am astounded at the latest

    expressions of antisemitism. Jews throughout the world are being attacked, literally, for being Jewish. I thought we were done with that. It is both scary and disappointing. But It also strengthens the belief of many Jews and certainly Israelis that Jews must have a nation where they can be safe. Israel is no longer that nation, but it is the best we have. 

    Will the Start-Up Nation Stop

    Israel was a vibrant and young country that became one of the world’s leaders in tech. Many of those who worked in the early stage tech industry have been called up to serve in the war. While investment in early-stage Israeli companies has declined, it is still happening, but I think sentiment will change at some point. I know companies that I am close to are moving assets, including cash, out of Israel.  

    Sadly, the Palestinians, rather than becoming part of the technological renaissance, are busy 

    destroying it.  

    What will happen

    I don’t know. Sometimes, I imagine a good outcome, one where there is a Palestinian country living in peace with Israel, with all the Arab nations accepting Israel. Lebanon rebuilt. Iran embracing democracy and freedom.  

    Sadly, the outcomes I can envision are dark, with no winners. Sorry to be so pessimistic.

  • The Iran deal…is it the beginning of the end? or the end of the beginning?

    I  really don’t know how I feel about the deal with Iran.  I tend to look at this situation from the eyes of an American/Israeli and the existential threat that a nuclear Iran represents. Through these eyes, it looks like the beginning of the end. The end of Israel. Once Iran demonstrates that it has an atomic bomb, everyone in Israel that has a foreign passport, and there are many, will leave the country.  But through the eyes of an American who is probably not risking the future of his children, it could be the beginning of a new Iran.  Iran is a great country lead by some awful people.  It has so much potential.

    In the short term, the deal agreed to by Obama, which could be stopped by congressional action, will make Israel safer.  I think Iran will be on its good behavior for a while, at least with respect to atomic weapons. 

    This makes Israel the only nuclear power in the middle east.  It also makes Israel the only power that can challenge Iran if it should get nuclear weapons.  That is one of the reasons that Arab countries like Saudi Arabia are holding their noses and making secret deals with Israel.

    The USA will probably try to make up with Israel, especially in time for the Presidential Election.  The Democrats will need Jewish financial support (we don’t have enough people to matter when it comes to votes.)  I doubt that they will put any pressure on Israel to deal with the Palestinians.  The Republicans, who are supported by the Zionist Christians, certainly will not put pressure on Israel.  I am sure that Netanyahu and Abbas called each other up and expressed their hope that Kerry would not be coming back to the region for a while.

    Iran will go after ISIS even harder.  They love a situation where they can kill Sunnis and have the world’s applause. Israel is probably giving intelligence about ISIS activities just as they give ISIS info on Iran’s activities.  

    Oil prices will continue to go down.  This will really hurt Russia, so it is hard to understand why they supported this agreement. There must be something being offered to Russia and China to see them so cooperative. 

    If the deal goes through, Obama will go down in history as either a very courageous man that took risk to keep the USA out of another war and prevent Iran from getting the bomb (at least for a long time) or, as one of the greatest fools of all time for dropping the sanctions and trusting Iran.  At least the man has guts.

    Perhaps, Iran will slowly turn to the west.  Their people clearly want that.  A man can dream!

    The loser in all this is Netanyahu in my opinion.  He showed that he could not stop the USA from doing this deal, and now that it is done (pretty much), he will have to turn his attention to  domestic issues and there are many. 

    The Palestinians continue to see their position weakened even though Europe talks a good game.  No one really cares.  Israel is busy making sure that Hamas and the PLO never get together, playing off of their greed, corruption and the  hatred of each other.

    It will probably be a few months or more before the deal is signed.  This gives us all a lot of time to decide if this is a good deal or a bad deal.  No matter what we think know, we will not really know for many years.

  • Bibi, King Maker, Double Agent, Politician, Fool or some combination?

    I am afraid that I have to add my voice to the discussion about the speech or should I say, performance of Bibi Netanyahu at the Congress. There was so much discussion leading up to this event about the purpose that the various parties had in creating this situation. I am not going to repeat all of that, but I will assume you hear a great deal about it.

    Personally I had a lot of difficulties trying to figure out what was going on. Bibi said that he was giving his speech to have an impact on the negotiations with Iran, but it was hard to see how this would have an impact. The negotiations are being lead on the American side by the very people, he pissed off by accepting the invitation to address a joint session of Congress from the Well of the House which was extended by John Boehner, the Speaker of the House. If Bibi wanted to influence Congress he could have spoken to them privately. If he wanted to influence the American People (like their opinion matters), he could have found a different venue for a major speech and then followed up with interviews on the various Cable Networks.

    He said he had to make his speech before a deal was done, but that does not make a lot of sense. Congress will have no role prior to the deal being signed by the Administration. To have a role, they would have to pass legislation which they appear to be very bad at. They would need 60 votes in the Senate and then face a veto by Obama so they would actually need 66 votes in the Senate which is something I don’t think could easily happen. It would have been much better if Bibi spoke to Congress after a deal was signed and asked them to find some way to block it assuming it was really the bad deal he projects.

    That leaves the possibility that he did this for political purposes given that the Israeli election is just two weeks away. This is certainly possible and I can imagine this influenced the timetable. But I find it hard to believe that Bibi used a silver bullet for this purpose. But I am not really sure.

    So what could be the other reasons? I imaged a behind the scenes deal between Netanyahu and the Republicans. The Republicans asked Netanyahu to speak and said that they would make every effort to block the Obama’s deal if he did. But that still does not make sense to me for the reasons I already mentioned with respect to passing veto proof legislation.

    So then I realized what happened. The deal is actually between Obama, Republican, Iran and Israel. The leaks about some of the aspects of the deal, like it being limited to just ten years, are being done on purpose. That way, the real deal will be seen as much better than what was imagined and perhaps seen as good deal. And who can bless such a deal? You got it, Bibi. Bibi will look strong. Boehner and the Republicans will look strong for inviting Bibi and Obama will look, well, stronger in that he got a deal done with Iran. Bibi will say he can go along with the agreement. The Republicans will go along with the agreement claiming that their action in inviting Bibi is responsible for the improvements. The Iranians will also feel good realizing the Americans are not so much different than they are (duplicitous).

  • My enemy’s enemy is my friend: Israel and Saudi Arabia – A love story

    The threat of Iran having nuclear weapons is causing many Arab countries (especially rich Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the Emirates) to look to Israel for protection. With the USA now looking weaker and entering into an agreement with Iran that both Israel and these Arab countries think will eventually lead to Iran having weapons of mass destruction, there is only one country that could potentially stop this and that country is Israel.  I have to say that it is a bit ironic that at the same time, Israel is the only nuclear country in the Middle East.

    These Arab countries could eventually get their own nuclear capabilities but that will take a lot of time.  So while they really hate Israel, they certainly respect Israel.  The weaker the US is perceived, the stronger Israel will become.  And of course, the Palestinians are casualties of this since Iran’s belligerent behavior has moved the focus from their plight to the threat of a nuclear Iran.

    And what of the Iranian Threat?

    I so hope that the agreement between the USA  and key European allies results in both stopping the Iranian development of nuclear weapons and lifts the crippling sanctions that punish the people of Iran but not their leaders.  However, I have lived too long to be so naive.  I might add that I have also negotiated many deals and can recognize a deal maker when I see one – which I don’t see in the White House So what to do?

    Containment (USA/USSR)

    When the Russians (and later the Chinese) got the Bomb, the only choice the USA had then was to become so weaponized that it was clear that a nuclear attack by the USSR would in turn result in their total destruction.  Of course, the Soviet Union was equally concerned about an attach by the USA so they had to arm themselves to the teeth as well.   Both countries ended up with more than 10,000 war heads, enough to literally blow the world up. There has been a substantial reduction since, but why so many weapons are still kept is pretty hard to understand.

    Containment (Iran)

    Would containment work with Iran?  Clearly, if Iran attacked Israel, Israel would retaliate in some way, although Israel (and Palestine) would probably no longer exist in their current form.  The world would witness the Holocaust of the 21st century. Most Israeli’s live in a rather small area.

    The total size of that country is 8,000 square miles, but 60% of that is the Negev (desert) which is largely unoccupied.  The San Francisco Bay Area is about 7,000 square miles which is probably about twice the size of the main inhabited part of Israel.  Iran is about 636,000 square miles which is more than 100 times larger than the inhabited parts of Israel. Iran is twice as large as California. So while Iran could wipe out Israel, Israel could not wipe out Iran although I would not want to be living in Teheran which itself has a population larger than the state of Israel.  So it does not seem much like the even match that existed between the USA and the USSR.  Once Iran has nuclear weapons and a delivery system, Israel would find it difficult to take the first action, and could only take the second action to punish the Iranians for destroying their country,  Of course the fall out from the bombing of Israel would effect many of its neighbors, but they are just Sunni Muslim states, and Iran does not like them very much anyway.

    Strike First

    Israel is certainly considering a first strike to hit the reactors.  They can probably pull this off for a while but it would turn world opinion, which is already very negative about Israel, even more against that state.

    What would the USA do if Iran used Nuclear weapons on Israel?

    I can’t see the USA doing what it did in World War II and bombing civilian targets.  So I would think they would use conventional weapons against military targets.  It would weaken Iran for sure but Iran would still be left with additional weapons and perhaps the ability to pass them to bad actors like Hezbollah that would somehow use them agains American targets.

    What if Iran gets way with getting Nuclear Weapons?

    Obama fears that this will create a broken damn and many more countries will seek to get nuclear weapons.  I think he is right.  And with more weapons in more countries, the chances that they will be used will increase with devastating results.

    So what should the USA do?

    I think the USA should be much more aggressive with sanctions.  This is probably the only way to keep the Iranians from getting the weapons and it is far from clear this will work.  I don’t believe that the Iranians will stop working on the development of Nuclear Weapons just because they tell John Kerry they will.   But on the other hand, I might be inclined to take the chance with this first step. I might add one more requirement:  Iran has to take over Afghanistan.

    Israel Rises to the Occasion

    In the meantime, Israel should take advantage of this situation to build stronger relationships with key Arab countries. Sometimes, I wonder if this has all been worked out in advance with the USA.