Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Oh Damn! The American Case for an Israeli Attack on Iran.

Asia Times correspondent "Spengler" argues that, for Washington, an Israeli attack on Iran might not be a bad thing.

...consider the possibility that all-out regional war is the optimal outcome for American interests. An Israeli strike on Iran that achieved even limited success - a two-year delay in Iran's nuclear weapons development - would arrest America's precipitous decline as a superpower.

Absent an Israeli strike, America faces:

  • A nuclear-armed Iran;
  • Iraq's continued drift towards alliance with Iran;
  • An overtly hostile regime in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood government will lean on jihadist elements to divert attention from the country's economic collapse;
  • An Egyptian war with Libya for oil and with Sudan for water;
  • A radical Sunni regime controlling most of Syria, facing off an Iran-allied Alawistan ensconced in the coastal mountains;
  • A de facto or de jure Muslim Brotherhood takeover of the Kingdom of Jordan;
  • A campaign of subversion against the Saudi monarchy by Iran through Shi'ites in Eastern Province and by the Muslim Brotherhood internally;
  • A weakened and perhaps imploding Turkey struggling with its Kurdish population and the emergence of Syrian Kurds as a wild card;
  • A Taliban-dominated Afghanistan; and
  • Radicalized Islamic regimes in Libya and Tunisia.

    Saudi Arabia is the biggest loser in the emerging Middle East configuration, and Russia is the biggest winner. Europe and Japan have concluded that America has abandoned its long-standing commitment to the security of energy supplies in the Persian Gulf by throwing the Saudi monarchy under the bus, and have quietly shifted their energy planning towards Russia. Little of this line of thinking will appear in the news media, but the reorientation towards Moscow is underway nonetheless. 
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  • 3 comments:

    LeDaro said...

    An attack on Iran will be disastrous for America. Chinese may benefit the most and maybe that is why they’re promoting it.

    The Mound of Sound said...

    This could be where imperial America comes undone. Washington is too divided, too distracted, to implement a cohesive policy for the Middle East. It's over.

    kootcoot said...

    It might solve the Zionist-Palestinian problem. There would be lots of land for the few surviving folks, though it might be paved with glass and somewhat radioactive.