2012 Predictions of war with Iran that didn’t Happen (20th Anniversary Edition)

It’s June 15, 1992. A news nugget on page A-12 of the Washington Post reports that the chief of Israel’s Air Force believes military action might be necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons: Maj. Gen. Herzl Budinger told… Continue Reading

Self-fulfilling prophecy: Dennis Ross Doesn’t Think Anything Can Get Accomplished

I was struck by an article by Nathan Guttman in the legendary Jewish Daily Forward about Dennis Ross and George Mitchell jockeying for the position of Obama Administration’s point-person in the Middle East peace process. The whole thing is a… Continue Reading

Iran Hawks Draw Lessons from DPRK Despite Ongoing Uncertainty on Korean Peninsula

Details are still emerging on the exchange of artillery fire in the Yellow Sea following what has been described as a North Korean artillery attack on South Korea. However, this incident, combined with reports of Pyongyang’s highly enriched uranium (HEU) facility,… Continue Reading

Pletka’s Bogus ‘Axis of Evil 2’ Conspiracy Theory

If someone is the Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at a prominent Washington think-tank, it’s fair to expect a certain level of scholarship. After all, these institutions are supposed to be in influencing policy. In the case of the American Enterprise… Continue Reading

In the Wake of 9/11, Israel Put Iran into “Axis of Evil”

The reaction of Israeli political leaders to the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 anticipated that the American public, as well as its policymakers, would now be better able to empathize with Israel’s vulnerability to random terrorist attacks against civilians. But a spate of Israeli pronouncements also drew upon a decade of Israeli assertions of Iranian complicity in terrorist attacks, and warnings of an imminent Iranian nuclear threat. A war of civilizations had begun, in which Islamic fundamentalist forces had launched what was just their first strike on September 11. The next might be a nuclear attack by Iran. Continue Reading