Shake That Bridge...

The flea in the elephant's ear* mouths off again:

A former head of Mossad has warned that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear programme or risk coming under nuclear attack itself. He also hinted that Israel might have to act sooner if Barack Obama wins the US presidential election.
Shabtai Shavit, an influential adviser to the Israeli parliament's defence and foreign affairs committee, told The Sunday Telegraph that time was running out to prevent Iran's leaders getting the bomb.

Let's open this up a bit.

First, this supposedly dire warning comes from a retired Mossad dude who is "out of the loop", so he's just venting his opinions, perhaps revealing Israeli State secrets in the process. But I don't think so... he's just promoting standard Israeli scare tactics, no doubt with the state's blessing.

Second, consider Mossad's track record, which is poor at best. They have been about as correct and timely with their intel as our own Homeland Security Department, which has become a cocktail hour joke in every circle of society.

So Israel runs the "risk of coming under nuclear attack". Big deal. Welcome to the real world....Everybody on the planet is under the risk of nuclear attack.

Israel is worried about one lousy A-bomb the Iranians might eventually try to build? The U.S. and Russia have thousands of them, all of them guaranteed to work.

Remember North Korea's "huge" nuclear bomb test? IT DIDN'T WORK, and now its seems North Korea has given up trying build A-bombs. Imagine that. Nobody attacked them, nobody destroyed their facilities.

Just because some small nation somewhere develops the ability to enrich uranium doesn't mean that they can succeed in mastering the huge technological leap required to make a workable bomb.

As far as a nuclear Holocaust goes, the real corker is that - in many aspects - Israel's conduct in the Middle East during the last sixty years has become a major contributor to today's worldwide nuclear risk.

A warning that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear programme or risk coming under nuclear attack is like warning the United States that it has "x" number of months to destroy China's nuclear programs, or risk coming under nuclear attack.

Doesn't sound sensible, does it? That's because it's not.

Like it or not, every nation on the planet has the right to develop nuclear energy for power generation. Oil won't last forever, and nuclear - except in the short-sighted United States - has become major player in providing the world's future energy needs. We are not going to stop it's development and use. Neither is Israel.

*THE FLEA IN THE ELEPHANT'S EAR

Once upon a time, an elephant decided to cross a bridge. Inside the elephant's ear was a tiny bloated flea, happily sustaining itself off the elephant's lifeblood.

As the elephant crossed the bridge, it rumbled, creaked and swayed, its timbers groaning under the massive weight of the load.

When the elephant reached the other side, the flea spoke up and said. "We sure shook that one, didn't we?".

But caution is recommended when dealing with a blood-sucking flea like that. It can be the death of it's host, just as in the the middle ages when a flea bite brought the plague, killing a third of Europe off with the Black Death.