Israel is a hobby horse of mine because, under a Likud-led government, it fits perfectly with the right-wing plan to concretize conservative domination of domestic politics for the next few years.  I myself am neither anti-Semitic nor philo-Semitic but I do have several Jewish friends, all well-educated, who are strongly pro-Israel, active in their communities, and from whom I gather gleanings of the mainstream thinking in those communities.  As far as I can see that thinking fits in perfectly with what conservatives want to see happen here politically, because, if Israel does indeed strike Iran's nuclear facilities the consequences here will be conducive to implementing a conservative domestic political agenda.

First, about this conservative master/mistress plan. That's a bit of hyperbole and  I'm just someone who has conservative friends, but over the past couple of years I have noticed that they do muse about the 'perfect storm', where a crisis of some kind would balloon the government deficit and FORCE spending cuts in social programs, and all other public expenditures, with the exception of defense and homeland security of course, ha ha.  This is the dream of many conservatives.  It's called 'starving the beast.'  And they're not afraid of any possible resulting civil disorder because they are confident that, in such turbulent times, the right wing militants would crush the left-wing militants, just as Hitler and the NAZIs crushed the Communists in 1920s Weimar Germany.

I have no idea what big shots like Romney, and other conservative politicians and their advisers and billionaire donors think but it is inconceivable that they don't know about this kind of thinking in the rank and file. And it is inconceivable that they wouldn't expect to be the beneficiaries of such a crisis, if it occurred, because the shock to the mass of inattentive ordinary people, who would be faced with doubling gasoline prices and a screeching halt to economic activity under the Israel attacks Iran scenario, would boomerang to devastate Obama's credibility and appeal to the voters who would, justifiably, ask: "Didn't you know about this possibility already a while back Mr. President, and why weren't you working 24/7 to prevent it instead of 'evolving' your position on gay marriage and playing basketball in the White House gym? Huh"?  So, this is why many right-wingers are salivating at the prospect of a crisis but can't say so publicly of course, because it does seem mean and petty and...awful, doesn't it?  But we're awful people anyway, right?...wink

Back to Israel.  Maybe you know about Peter Beinart and the book he wrote recently about 'The Crisis Of Zionism And Liberal Jews' where he excoriates Israel for its oppression of the Palestinians and the systematization of the Occupation which is being made more and more irreversible over time.  It looks like Israel won't be able to reverse course there and, other things being equal, will continue to lose support all over the world, now including the support of liberal American Jews.  This is a disaster, so what better way to get it off the front burner than engage in a cold war, now transitioning into some hot episodes, with Iran?  And what about that rising social discontent with housing costs in Israel?  What better way to shut up the protesters than divert them with an ongoing national emergency?

So you see, it is in the interest of the ruling right wing political/religious class in Israel to precipitate a genuine crisis with Iran. This is what we are building up to.  It is also in the right-wingers interest in the US for the crisis to occur.  But it has to be executed cleverly.  In June the nuclear negotiation talks with Iran will reconvene in Moscow.  Beginning in July the European ban on Iranian oil imports goes into effect, and Israel must give those forceful economic sanctions a brief chance to work in order to maintain credibility with tens of millions of indifferent and uncommitted American voters who, if they got pissed off enough at the 'damn Jews' once they can't gas up the minivan and/or lose their jobs, might start saying "to hell with Israel", and that has to be avoided at all cost.  (Can you see the talk shows at that time, and I don't mean FOX which is 111% pro-Israel, I mean MSNBC, where some blubbering American mom will be crying "I can't get gas to drive to the Abortion Clinic, or the Weight Loss Clinic", and some pro-Israel spokesman will be commiserating with her and saying "That is too bad but it's the Iranians' fault, Israel was ve-erry patient with them, but Israel has to protect her security...").  So a big deal has to be made of giving those last sanctions some time to work.  Say a month and a half to be reasonable. If, as most analysts expect, by the end of that period Israel's information, obtained from technical means and human intelligence, indicates that despite all the negotiations and promises Iran may be making, that the uranium enrichment has been going full blast ahead, then the moment to strike will be propitious.

On the other hand, if the sanctions do indeed start working and Iran is squirming and giving in then that is ALSO a big win for Netanyahu and his government. It will show that playing hardball with the bastard Iranians is the ONLY way to deal with them, so it will reinforce Netanyahu's power and credibility and it will be ammunition for the Republicans in the US to say, see, Obama's appeasement of Iran 3 years ago, during Iran's aborted 'Arab' spring was totally wrong, it's only by being tough that you get Iran to co-operate.  Also, look for a lot of public humiliation of Iran by the Israeli establishment in July, to let the fuckers know who the boss is, and also hopefully to bait the Iranians' pride, making it very difficult for Iran to back down in the face of Israeli provocation, so to avoid complete national humiliation Iran may try to brazen it out without giving in on uranium enrichment, and then Israel can strike.  Pretty clever Yids, huh?  So either way, whatever happens, the conservative approach and agenda will be validated.  It's a win-win situation for the right wing.

But for now Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is in a coalition government of national unity with the other parties.  Such a government may not have a long shelf life. It was created in the first place to prepare Israel, domestically politically, for war.  So it seems the government is preparing to pull the trigger by the latter part of August if the last round of economic sanctions fail and at the perfect time to destroy Obama's chances for re-election in November.

This is the so-called Israel/US master plan. The resulting economic crisis will work perfectly to derail any liberal political agendas in the US and Israel.  In times of crisis the mass of the people rally to the leaders who they think will bring them the greatest security.  In Israel it is the Likud led unity government.  In the US it will be the Republicans.  It's called 'winning dirty' and, at a time when the demographics are turning against the Republicans in the US, it's maybe the one last option conservatives have to pummel the liberals.  Probably Republican leaders are secretly urging Israel to strike and promising them the moon if only, please, they would just unleash the cockerspaniels of war.  Hold on to your suppositories for a wild ride at the end of the dog days of summer...snicker