🌟 Exclusive 2024 Prime Day Deals! 🌟

Unlock unbeatable offers today. Shop here: https://amzn.to/4cEkqYs 🎁

The New Reality....

pbel

Gold Member
Feb 26, 2012
5,653
449
130
A New Reality in U.S.-Israeli Relations | Stratfor

The United States' new stance ought to frighten the Israelis. In Israel's grand strategy, the United States is the ultimate guarantor of its national security and underwrites a portion of its national defense. If the United States becomes less inclined to involve itself in regional adventures, the question is whether the guarantees implicit in the relationship still stand. The issue is not whether the United States would intervene to protect Israel's existence; save from a nuclear-armed Iran, there is no existential threat to Israel's national interest. Rather, the question is whether the United States is prepared to continue shaping the dynamics of the region in areas where Israel lacks political influence and is not able to exert military control. Israel wants a division of labor in the region, where it influences its immediate neighbors while the United States manages more distant issues. To put it differently, the Israelis' understanding of the American role is to control events that endanger Israel and American interests under the assumption that Israeli and American interests are identical. The idea that they are always identical has never been as true as politicians on both sides have claimed, but more important, the difficulties of controlling the environment have increased dramatically for both sides.

Israel's Difficulties

The problem for Israel at this point is that it is not able to do very much in the area that is its responsibility. For example, after the relationship with the United States, the second-most important strategic foundation for Israel is its relationship -- and peace treaty -- with Egypt. Following the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the fear was that Egypt might abrogate the peace treaty, reopening at some distant point the possibility of conventional war. But the most shocking thing to Israel was how little control it actually had over events in Egypt and the future of its ties to Egypt. With good relations between Israel and the Egyptian military and with the military still powerful, the treaty has thus far survived. But the power of the military will not be the sole factor in the long-term sustainability of the treaty. Whether it survives or not ultimately is not a matter that Israel has much control over.

The Israelis have always assumed that the United States can control areas where they lack control. And some Israelis have condemned the United States for not doing more to manage events in Egypt. But the fact is that the United States also has few tools to control the evolution of Egypt, apart from some aid to Egypt and its own relationship with the Egyptian military. The first Israeli response is that the United States should do something about problems confronting Israel. It may or may not be in the American interest to do something in any particular case, but the problem in this case is that although a hostile Egypt is not in the Americans' interest, there is actually little the United States can do to control events in Egypt.

The Syrian situation is even more complex, with Israel not even certain what outcome is more desirable. Syrian President Bashar al Assad is a known quantity to Israel. He is by no means a friend, but his actions and his father's have always been in the pursuit of their own interest and therefore have been predictable. The opposition is an amorphous entity whose ability to govern is questionable and that is shot through with Islamists who are at least organized and know what they want. It is not clear that Israel wants al Assad to fall or to survive, and in any case Israel is limited in what it could do even if it had a preference. Both outcomes frighten the Israelis. Indeed, the hints of American weapons shipments to the rebels at some point concern Israel as much as no weapons shipments.

The Iranian situation is equally complex. It is clear that the Israelis, despite rhetoric to the contrary, will not act unilaterally against Iran's nuclear weapons. The risks of failure are too high, and the consequences of Iranian retaliation against fundamental American interests, such as the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, are too substantial. The American view is that an Iranian nuclear weapon is not imminent and Iran's ultimate ability to build a deliverable weapon is questionable. Therefore, regardless of what Israel wants, and given the American doctrine of military involvement as a last resort when it significantly affects U.S. interests, the Israelis will not be able to move the United States to play its traditional role of assuming military burdens to shape the region.


Read more: A New Reality in U.S.-Israeli Relations | Stratfor
 
Israel's ability to finese US politics to its advantage does seem more and more strained with each intifada.

And as the Arab world is in turmoil now, and as their strong man governments fall, so too does the USA's cozy relationships with these tyrants.

This makes Israel's position increasingly unstable.

I do not think Israel can survive without the aid of the West.

And the WEST's governments are going bankrupt and eventurally the people in the WEST are likely NOT to want to continue buying off Arab tyrants on behalf of Israel.

Could be a very messy time in the mid east as a result of this continuing change in circumstance.
 
Israel's ability to finese US politics to its advantage does seem more and more strained with each intifada.

And as the Arab world is in turmoil now, and as their strong man governments fall, so too does the USA's cozy relationships with these tyrants.

This makes Israel's position increasingly unstable.

I do not think Israel can survive without the aid of the West.

And the WEST's governments are going bankrupt and eventurally the people in the WEST are likely NOT to want to continue buying off Arab tyrants on behalf of Israel.

Could be a very messy time in the mid east as a result of this continuing change in circumstance.

Israel's game plan since the 67 War was aggression and she pre-emptively started the war purely to grab as much land as possible....America only imports 15-17 percent from the ME and going down...the strategic muscle for Israel was never one of love but for terror on the Arabs...with the depletion of need of oil...Israel will be alone.

That's why the Palestinians got recognition to the 67 borders at the UN...The writting is on the wall.
 
Last edited:

Forum List

Back
Top