Accuracy Limited in Horseshoes, Hand Grenades and Nuclear Ambitions

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Apr 17, 2015 at 15:24

To Yuval; and to all in Israel under the nuclear threat;

Unless one has had fear seared into the conscious and unconscious sense of awareness of the elusive common frame of reference in mortality, the practical realities of life here in America seem serene compared to being in Israel, where the rising and setting of the sun is being measured in the number of missiles, jihadists' attacks and train/bus station atrocities and the like.

The closest this American came to that feeling was during the opening couple of decades of the cold war, where school children living within a mile of a defensive missile sites were compelled to drill in 'duck and cover' routines in anticipation of a threatened airburst that would have changed life as we knew it, forever.

Those times coming are back, yet, no one is practicing, except Israel; and not for drills, but for real. We cannot help but think that this time around, it may yet get real for America, if Iran and the motions of Russia are to be taken seriously. Let us be frank, if it indeed goes nuclear, no one wins that argument.

But what will start the argument; reannexing Gaza; succumbing to the 'Palestinian' demand for surrendering any part of Israeli sovereign territory; or the reengagement of Hizbollah's (who are now ticked off at the Saudi's) Lebanese encroachment near the Golan after the fall of Damascus?

The nuclear question now is not how the threat may come about, but who will exercise the option first. Yet, make no mistake, Israel's part will be unmistakable and the world will be left wondering: how did we get it so wrong?'

And it will not be Israel's air power that stopped Iran and Russia and all the others: the reader will be left to ponder that.

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