TimesOnline.co.uk says Israel Preparing for Potential Attack Iran, originally uploaded by thepetecom.
TimesOnline.co.uk is reporting that Israeli warships are positioning themselves in the Suez Canal in preparation for a possible invasion of Iran.
Speaking strictly as the fiction writer and the observer of world events that I am, I must say the timing of this does make some amount of tactical (if I'm using the word correctly) sense from the Israeli standpoint. Iran is a mess after its government cracked down, rather oppressively, on protestors (mostly students, apparently). There's been talk for the past month of a complete revolution in Iran--the leaders can't seem to decide if their recent election counts or even if the ballots were properly counted and it's not the easiest thing to get an accurate account of the state of things inside Iranian borders due to a crackdown on foreign press.
So, with that kind of chaos--a stumbling government and a rather large contingent of their citizens feeling pretty rebellious, Israel may have picked a perfect time for invasion--one that just might catch the Iranian military at a place where they simply will not have their shit together enough to defend against an attack.
The theory before the recent Iranian crackdown was that even though the populace didn't seem to generally care for the leadership, said leaders could still rally the Iranian people to rise up and defend the country from any outside attackers. After showing such bloodthirsty instincts on it's own people, Iran's leaders just might find it harder to get support from those people--at least, that's what I bet Israel is thinking.
Does this mean an Israeli attack on Iran is moral or even legal? No and no--not from my perspective, anyway. Iran would have to attack Israel in order to make an attack on Iran legal in the eyes of the UN Charter (aka international law). On a moral level (think the Golden Rule) Israel can't invade a country that may be talking shit, but isn't doing shit to mess with them--so how could Israel feel the need to attack? But then, Israel is the country that's been occupying a people for decades for no easily discernible reason, so anything is possible.
No, I don't hate Jews, nor do I hate Israel. I just don't like what their government is doing. Drawing first blood is never a good thing--end of story. PR, rhetoric, even blatant threats do NOT justify an attack on another country. ONLY an unprovoked attack from that country justifies an attack on it.
Let's hope Israel is just going for a sail.
Fingers crossed!
