Israel alone with Obama Administration?

Will Israel be the last nation willing to confront terror in the mid east? Atlas Shrugs recounts some of the hour long exchange between former UN Ambassador John Bolton and the Jerusalem Post this week.

Operation Cast Lead was timed to end immediately before US President Barack Obama's inauguration. Since then, rockets have continued to be fired on Israel from Gaza, with limited retaliation, and preparations for a possible second round. Had Israel not pulled out, would that have put an automatic strain on Jerusalem-Washington relations?

I do think the Obama administration will be less friendly to Israel than the Bush administration. And I understand why the leadership in Israel might have wanted the operation finished by January 20. There may have been other reasons to stop, as well, although with the renewed launching of rockets, those reasons are less apparent.

Military operations like Cast Lead should be carried through to their own logical conclusions, and I think Israel has to calibrate its military actions based on its own self-interest. Trying to judge what it should do based on American politics is a perilous venture.

Tension in Gulf of Aden escalates

With tensions in the Gulf already quite high, Iran sends warship to "protect" their shipping. Now quite a few countries featuring warships all in the same gulf. This has the potential for problems and mistakes.

Iran sends ship against pirates

World leaders have called for more action to tackle piracy

Iran has sent a warship to the Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant shipping from attacks by Somali pirates, Iranian state media has reported.

Pirates have attacked more than 100 ships, including two Iranian vessels, in the gulf in the past year and at least 15 are still being held.

Several countries now have naval forces operating in the region.

Just how close is Israel to striking Iran?

"The Economist reports that Israel is not bluffing in its recent intimations of possible military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities" (article Israel's not bluffing on Iran nuclear strikes)

When I was quite young I tended to follow Israeli issues closely, I think my mom kept putting it there and forcing me to think about it. Israel matters, a bunch. When I reached young adult though I started to go like many "progressives" and started to really favor the popular "can't Israel just learn to get along" theory. They are somewhat socialized and haven't been nearly as free with civil rights.

Finally I have grown in mid-life to a point of realizing that Israel is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. They are a very important ally, and they are under constant attack from the terror that we've really only seen a couple times in the last four decades.

If Israel has strong indications that Iran has nukes, then I would agree they will probably strike Iran preemptively. The Economist seems to be against preemption, but that's no surprise since they tend to be a little more "progressive."