Israel's Defense Minister: We Can't Rely On Obama On Iran

by JASmius

Dominos manifest themselves in different ways.  Sometimes they just knock each other over in artfully crafted displays; sometimes they arrive, piping hot and delicious, in thirty minutes or less; sometimes a dictator knocks them over across a targeted region, reaping the geopolitical harvest as they fall, unopposed, into his lap.

And sometimes those dominoes tip over even bigger rows of them:

Israel cannot depend on the United States to lead any action against Iran's nuclear program and can only rely on itself, the country's defense minister said in remarks published Tuesday.

The comments by Moshe Yaalon came as world powers and Iran were about to start a new round of talks over Iran's contested nuclear program....

If a deal with world powers [and the United States] is reached, sanctions imposed on Iran over the nuclear program could be lifted.

Israel has criticized the ongoing talks with Tehran, saying an interim nuclear deal, struck last November, has left Iran's military nuclear capabilities largely intact while giving it relief from some economic sanctions.

At the same time, Israel's strongest piece of leverage, the threat of a military strike on Iran, has taken a back stage to the talks despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence it remains on the table.

Yaalon's remarks seemed to underscore that insistence.

"We thought that the one who needs to lead the campaign against Iran is the U.S.," Yaalon was quoted by the daily Haaretz as saying during a lecture at Tel Aviv University on Monday.

Instead, Yaalon said, the U.S. began negotiations with Iran and Iran gained the upper hand in the talks.

"If we wished others would do the work for us, it wouldn't be done soon, and therefore in this matter, we have to behave as if we can only rely on ourselves," Yaalon said.

Why are the mullahgarchs humiliating Barack Obama with such impunity by their flaunting of their nuclear ambitions and his utter surrender to them?  Leaving aside the hard-Left rhetoric of his meteoric rise to the presidency, his utter passivity and free hand given to them in their ferocious, merciless crushing of the 2009 Green Revolution was a pretty good clue that they had nothing to fear from him beyond terminal boredom and halitosis.  Why are Russian troops spreading throughout Ukraine as we speak?  The "reset button" fiasco, the shafting of Poland and the Czech Republic on stationing anti-ICBM batteries on their territory, and last September's Syria "red lines" fiasco conceding the entire Middle East to the Russian sphere of influence are likely candidates.  The same dynamic has Red China moving with increasing rapidity and boldness towards intimidating South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, even southeast Asia and Australia into either submission or a belated nuclear arms race, just like the one between Iran and the Saudis and Gulf Emirates, as well as transforming the entire Western Pacific - and eventually, the Pacific, period - into "Lake Beijing".

The Israelis, being (for the most part) consummate realists, can see the handwriting on the wall, and have for years.  Why else would they have brought back Mr. Netanyahu to their premiership?  All Moshe Yaalon is doing is giving public utterance to what everybody on the planet already knows.  If it appears more than a tad impolitic, it just reflects how estranged the Jewish State feels from its one-time friend, ally, and protector in that Jerusalem sees little or nothing to be lost from displaying such open candor.

If anybody wonders why the loss of American influence and global respect matters, look no further.  Allies can no longer trust or rely upon us, and adversaries no longer need respect, fear, or even take heed of us.  The wolves are set loose among the sheep, and when they finish devouring them, the biggest morsel of all will await them, savory and succulent.



The Obama Doctrine, triumphant.

Gee, elections - especially pilfered ones - really do have consequences, don't they?