I'm a regular visitor to whatreallyhappened. Without loosing my healthy skeptism and critical thinking.

My healthy skeptism and critical thinking also enabled me to understand PO, and why it scares the sh*t out of me.

So then why doesn't Israel admit that it has nuclear weapons?

If Israel admitted it had nuclear weapons, it would have to admit that these have deterrent value which far outstrips the military utility of taking more land.

Now why would you want more land? That land is taken by settlers and developers, who vote and contribute to political parties. Real estate, as we Americans and Britons have seen the last decade, can create an asset bubble that makes a fiscally irresponsible government look good while it seizes dictatorial powers. The Neocons applied this model first in Israel, then via Alan Greenspan and dual-citizen advisors who cluster around Dick Cheney, it came to the US. The British always follow us.

What kind of rule should we expect to be created by a state-enforced real estate asset bubble? Real estate and financial speculation corrupting the entire political system? Check. The use of a terrorist threat to clamp down on media reporting on the real threat of an asset collapse? Check. The perversion of standards of government on purported security needs such that a president or prime minister refuses to resign after conduct for which his predecessors would have quit, without any subsequent impeachment by the legislature? Check. Oh yeah, and that inflation and bank collapses and depression and stuff.

The Anglo-American bubbles ran aground on the sheer size of their drain on global capital and the supply of oil to fuel more consumption. The Israelis are still building settlements. Their bubble lasts as long as their army and farmers gang up to drive Palestinian farmers off their land one after the other. Or until the water runs out.

I hear the Shia Lebanese have a whole lot of water...

haha, if only... the sarcanol alarm went off when I saw "Bush tempered his remarks."

I did read the entire article. Always do when I intend to comment because a few years ago I forget to thouroughly read a TOD post on nuclear energy and Prof. Goose immediately wizzled me back.

"we are sympathetic to their goal, they have enormous quantities of natural gas but have no easy access to the major world markets for that gas"

That's more hypocrisy if y'll ask me. Sanctions anyone??

I find it of great interest that you consider Iran and Cuba "our traditional foes."

As noted by the authors of the musical South Pacific, Americans are "carefully taught how to hate and fear." Yes, and it's been done all too well.

Why should we acknowledge our wrongs? Think they are going to acknowledge theirs? Yep, we've done bad, so have they...alls fair in love and war. Working dialogue for what purpose, we are all going to be worried about our own hides soon enough, who cares what the Cubans and the Iranians think?

Obama as president will apply the Patriot act quite liberally, hope you like being told what to think, speak and read.