Hawk rising

[mahnmut]

Israel is going to have more of the same for the next 4 yaers, it seems: from deep freezing of the peace negotiations with the Palestinians, to a hard stance on the ongoing tedious negotiations about Iran's nuclear program, to additional tensions with Obama's administration and the EU.

Rather than turning a new page (as most forecasts suggested),

Comments

[underlankers]

Not that anyone should be surprised an unreconstructed terrorist movement that elects murderers like Begin would double down on what's ultimately self-destructive for Israel. The only reason that state will keep on trucking for a long time to come is its 400 or so illegal nukes.

[mahnmut]

And to think that SA almost acquired nukes from those guys. But then it quit them in time. Go figure.

[underlankers]

It's to the credit of South Africa that it's the only state to actually have the atomic bomb and then give it up once it possessed it.

[telemann]

Absolutely, it's a tremendous credit..

Gratefully so did Sweden, Brazil and Argentina and listened to sanity by giving up their nuclear weapons programs.

[underlankers]

Of the three, Sweden had the best reasons to do it given that it was part of the Soviet Union's near abroad and the USSR was never a comfortable neighbor to have. That it still gave them up facing whatever would come after a USSR speaks even more to its credit than South Africa's case. As with its six nukes at the height of the program it was the only nuclear-armed state in the region, but facing the same ace in the hole that Israel does, it still opted to give it up.

Which means that for all its totalitarian evil that the apartheid regime ensured still in many ways hasn't really changed all that much, South Africa literally is morally superior to Israel on a crucial tenet of international law.

[telemann]

Yep. I'm happy they all gave up their programs.