It's absurd because Israel has a long history of never really co-operating with us. You'll note that they are not even within the FIVE EYES network when it comes to security.
Israel always goes with whatever is in Israel's best interests first and foremost, even at American expense. We don't even have much of a say in their actions and strategy. Israel really does have a mostly one way relationship with us, and they aren't prepared to play our games.
In their history, they've refused to share intel with us, they've assassinated targets we'd rather keep alive, they've lied to our faces about their intentions for war, and I don't even think we have any clear understanding of their current nuclear capabilities.
I'm not going to say they are a rogue state or anything, but they don't play ball with us. We play ball with them, and we don't get much out of it most of the time besides some occasional thanks, and the demand that we should be grateful for them not stepping directly on our dick.
I'm pretty sure the only reason they didn't launch air-strikes on Saddam in the Gulf War and upend the entire US coalition was because they knew that we could castrate the Iraqi military if we kept the coalition with the Saudis. It just happened that our interests were in line with theirs. The fact that one of our major strategic objectives in the war was to keep Israel out of it, is a real indicator of how one-sided the relationship is. No matter what happened with Saddam, Israel was going to benefit by seeing one of it's biggest threats get smoked, and we still had to hope that they wouldn't fuck off and blow the whole thing up in our face. The Iraqi SCUD threat is what lead to the creation of the PATRIOT system that was implemented in Israel, and what would eventually lead to the Iron Dome. Again, we didn't just ask Israel not to enter the war, we built them an anti-missile defense system and attacked Iraqi missile sites to keep them from jumping in, and it was still hit or miss about whether or not they would.
As I've said elsewhere, when it comes to good allies for the US, I'd put Israel under France.
I'm not going to say they are a rogue state or anything, but they don't play ball with us. We play ball with them, and we don't get much out of it most of the time besides some occasional thanks, and the demand that we should be grateful for them not stepping directly on our dick.
It's the highest form of saber-rattling, but if push comes to shove, especially with them talking about dropping nukes on Moscow if was truly all-or-nothing, then a nuclear retaliation would be legitimate.
It's absurd because Israel has a long history of never really co-operating with us. You'll note that they are not even within the FIVE EYES network when it comes to security.
Israel always goes with whatever is in Israel's best interests first and foremost, even at American expense. We don't even have much of a say in their actions and strategy. Israel really does have a mostly one way relationship with us, and they aren't prepared to play our games.
In their history, they've refused to share intel with us, they've assassinated targets we'd rather keep alive, they've lied to our faces about their intentions for war, and I don't even think we have any clear understanding of their current nuclear capabilities.
I'm not going to say they are a rogue state or anything, but they don't play ball with us. We play ball with them, and we don't get much out of it most of the time besides some occasional thanks, and the demand that we should be grateful for them not stepping directly on our dick.
I'm pretty sure the only reason they didn't launch air-strikes on Saddam in the Gulf War and upend the entire US coalition was because they knew that we could castrate the Iraqi military if we kept the coalition with the Saudis. It just happened that our interests were in line with theirs. The fact that one of our major strategic objectives in the war was to keep Israel out of it, is a real indicator of how one-sided the relationship is. No matter what happened with Saddam, Israel was going to benefit by seeing one of it's biggest threats get smoked, and we still had to hope that they wouldn't fuck off and blow the whole thing up in our face. The Iraqi SCUD threat is what lead to the creation of the PATRIOT system that was implemented in Israel, and what would eventually lead to the Iron Dome. Again, we didn't just ask Israel not to enter the war, we built them an anti-missile defense system and attacked Iraqi missile sites to keep them from jumping in, and it was still hit or miss about whether or not they would.
As I've said elsewhere, when it comes to good allies for the US, I'd put Israel under France.
It's either that or the Samson Option.
It's the highest form of saber-rattling, but if push comes to shove, especially with them talking about dropping nukes on Moscow if was truly all-or-nothing, then a nuclear retaliation would be legitimate.