Crying over spilt beans
There are few things quite as absurd as the outrage created by the enunciation of a fact that has long been well known to all, but never acknowledged
Like the existence of a homosexual in a conservative family, Israel’s nuclear capability has been more or less common knowledge for decades, and yet the authorities have remained tight-lipped, maintaining 'strategic ambiguity'. If we don’t answer the question, maybe they’ll stop asking.
Now Ehud Olmert has let slip in a German television interview that Israel too is a nuclear power, naming his country in a list of nuclear powers which included the US, France and Russia. The cat was well and truly out of the bag . Or rather, the cat had long since escaped from said bag, raised a family of kittens and made a fortune in the dairy industry before anyone actually admitted to having left the bag open.
Olmert has since made a heroic attempt to backtrack (“I said Israel? Sorry I meant Russia is-really big on nuclear weapons”), and failed miserably. The world and his wife had heard it and there was no denying it, even by reverting to the time-honoured claim that "Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region."
Rumours abound that this was one of those accidentally-on-purpose gaffes, designed to give a covert warning to Iran, which appears bent on acquiring its own nuclear arsenal. But it is highly unlikely that Olmert would choose to make such a veiled (no pun intended) threat towards Iran, which is all too aware of the glistening, pointy-tipped firecrackers lurking just the other side of Iraq and Jordan.
It is more likely to be a symptom of the supreme arrogance with which the Israeli government has acted in recent years, riding roughshod over international law and basking in the privileged position of being the favourite protégé of the world’s only superpower.
Olmert and co have become so used to acting with impunity that they’ve forgotten to watch their mouths before filling them with foot.
But what will come of this? Well, the US is obliged to withhold funding from any country which breaches the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
So that’ll be $2bn a year redirected into the US education system/world AIDS prevention/renewable energy then, won’t it? Will it f***.
There are few things quite as absurd as the outrage created by the enunciation of a fact that has long been well known to all, but never acknowledged
Like the existence of a homosexual in a conservative family, Israel’s nuclear capability has been more or less common knowledge for decades, and yet the authorities have remained tight-lipped, maintaining 'strategic ambiguity'. If we don’t answer the question, maybe they’ll stop asking.
Now Ehud Olmert has let slip in a German television interview that Israel too is a nuclear power, naming his country in a list of nuclear powers which included the US, France and Russia. The cat was well and truly out of the bag . Or rather, the cat had long since escaped from said bag, raised a family of kittens and made a fortune in the dairy industry before anyone actually admitted to having left the bag open.
Olmert has since made a heroic attempt to backtrack (“I said Israel? Sorry I meant Russia is-really big on nuclear weapons”), and failed miserably. The world and his wife had heard it and there was no denying it, even by reverting to the time-honoured claim that "Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region."
Rumours abound that this was one of those accidentally-on-purpose gaffes, designed to give a covert warning to Iran, which appears bent on acquiring its own nuclear arsenal. But it is highly unlikely that Olmert would choose to make such a veiled (no pun intended) threat towards Iran, which is all too aware of the glistening, pointy-tipped firecrackers lurking just the other side of Iraq and Jordan.
It is more likely to be a symptom of the supreme arrogance with which the Israeli government has acted in recent years, riding roughshod over international law and basking in the privileged position of being the favourite protégé of the world’s only superpower.
Olmert and co have become so used to acting with impunity that they’ve forgotten to watch their mouths before filling them with foot.
But what will come of this? Well, the US is obliged to withhold funding from any country which breaches the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
So that’ll be $2bn a year redirected into the US education system/world AIDS prevention/renewable energy then, won’t it? Will it f***.
posted by Rob Davies at 3:31 PM
3 Comments:
So the Israeli Government is guilty of "supreme arrogance" and rides "roughshod" over international law, while "basking" in United States support. Get real, and drop the simplistic leftist cliches while you're at it. The policy of nuclear ambiguity was designed in the 1960s by Israel when every Arab state surrounding the country was threatening - as Iran does today - to wipe the country off the map, and the nuclear option was designed as the last possible option to prevent that from happening.
Ambiguity was a complex diplomatic strategy to develop a nuclear option without causing an 'arms race' in the region - Israel did not wish to use its nuclear weapons in conventional conflict, and as proof of that, when the country was attacked in 1973 by a coalition of surrounding forces, the Israeli response to defeat the invasion was entirely with conventional weapons. Now, it could be argued, that with peace treaties signed with two of its neighbours and with Iran becoming the region's pariah state, the policy of diplomatic ambiguity could be dated, but that should be the subject of long thought out diplomatic discussion, and not to be blurted out by a less-than-circumspect Prime Minister in a television interview.
You are at pains, in your piece, to paint Israel as the regional pariah - but you seem to have forgotten that Iran yesterday hosted the largest Holocaust denial conference in modern times, and once again expressed the genocidal wish to wipe an entire nation off the planet. Meanwhile, while the totalitarian regime in Teheran allows its citizens to deny the Holocaust with impunity, they are unable to even think of criticising their own Government without being thrown into prison.
With that in mind, can you blame the Israelis for desiring to defend themselves?
Get some balance mate - the Independent-style cliches are all very convenient and slip nicely off the tongue, but what we are dealing with here is a complicated regional conflict, and a bit of perspective wouldn't hurt.
Finally, someone has a go at me for my habit of overexaggeration.
You make some good points, such as the fact that the nuclear ambiguity policy has a tactical purpose. But i would argue that it is so transparent that we may as well openly admit that they have nuclear weapons, and that the US is prepared to make an exception in their case. The facade that currently exists is an embarrassment to international diplomacy.
You also put words into my mouth when you suggest i wish to paint Israel as the only reprehensible government in the Middle East. I'm no fan of the jumped-up holocaust-denying traffic warden who runs Iran either. But this piece was not about Iran.
Still, i didn't explain myself properly and i cannot blame you for taking my comments as you did. However, you go one step too far when you accuse me of leftist cliches. Yes, i have used phrases that someone, somewhere must have used before. And my politics is vaguely leftist. But there's no need for name calling. And don't associate me with the Independent.
Rob,
Nice piece - I don't agree with it all - I wouldn't would I? One point, though, you talk about the US withholding funding from any power breaching the NPT. Well, Israel (along with Pakistan and India) is not a signatory to the treaty so could not be penalised for being in violation of it.
David
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