Benny Morris on Iran and Nuclear Attack

Benny Morris has written about the possibility of an Iranian nuclear attack, "The Second Holocaust." It is important as one of the scenario for what could happen in an Iranian attack on Israel.

More on Benny Morris

In the current issue of The New Yorker, David Remnick, the magazine's editor-in-chief, has written a fair and balanced review of Benny Morris's new book entitled "Blood and Sand" on the Arab-Israeli conflict. This essay is important for an understanding of the conflict and its possible outcome.

See also April 4 post on this blog, "A Historian's View of the Middle East Conflict."

Syria's Attempt to Build a Nuclear Reactor

In September 2007, Israel launched a bombing attack that destroyed a Syrian group of buildings. News of the attack became public when North Korea vehemently condemned it. But, why would N. Korea be that interested in an attack against Syria unless N. Korean personnel were involved? Adding to the mystery was the fact that Syria failed to protest the attack or demand that Israel be condemned for its "aggression." Also, mysterious was the fact that neither Israel nor the United States had anything to say about the incident. On April 24, 2008, the Wall Street Journal published an article, " U.S. to Link North Korea to Syria" in which the motive for Israel's attack, long suspected, becomes clear." Syria was indeed building a nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance and Israel had destroyed it, as it had Iraq's Osirak reactor in the 1980s.

Why Is Ahmadinejad Smiling?

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649985892&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinterIf there is one country that has benefited from the war in Iraq, it is Iran. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's strategy of making Iran the dominant power or hegemon in the Middle East proceeds along a predictable course while both the US and Israel "dither." Harvard-trained Caroline Glick offers her analysis of Ahmadinejad's continuing success in a Jerusalem Post article Ahmadinejad's Smiles.

A Historian's View of the Middle East Conflict

Cambridge-educated Benny Morris is widely regarded as one of Israel's pre-eminent historians and political analysts. He has just published a new book, 1948-A History of the First-Arab Israeli War in which he offers a bleak analysis of both the Arab-Israel and the Israeli-Iranian conflicts. He also offers a hardline analysis of Israel's probable response. His views are summarized in an interview he gave to the Jerusalem Post recently with the title It Was Always A Jihad.