[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Israel Wants World to Have $100/Barrel Oil In March 2006

[C. G. Estabrook]

I don't have a very good record for political predictions
(e.g., I thought Scoop Jackson would be president in 1972, and
I missed by a generation), but I do think all this
saber-rattling is for another purpose.  If you're going to
attack a medium-sized power that's in a position to make
serious trouble for you, you don't hoot and holler about it
for months in advance.  (You can do that only if you're about
to attack a defenseless country, like Iraq.)

[1] Israel (all parties) are playing bad cop in hopes that
some good cop (EU/US) will come along and sit on Iran for
them. But they're really not worried that Iran will thwart
anything they want to do in the Occupied Territories. They're
much more afraid of peace breaking out.

[2] It's different domestically.  Most Israelis are in a
restive mood and are more concerned about Israel's wretched
economy than they are about external threats.  But none of the
political parties have a solution for the ravages of
neoliberalism domestically -- they're all working for some
version of Israeli corporate liberalism. Therefore they have
to get Israelis scared about an external threat -- indeed,
they have to manufacture one if they can.  So Netanyahu rages,
and even Peretz doesn't depart from the national security
state that Israel has become (altho' there are some
possibilities in Labor under new leadership).

The real danger will come if it looks like Sharon/Peres will
lose the spring election.  Then the government might
manufacture an emergency -- e.g., actually attack Iran -- in
order to stay in power.  --CGE


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:55:45 -0600
>From: "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: Israel Wants World to Have
$100/Barrel Oil In March 2006  
>To: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>   Pretty alarming stuff, claiming an imminent attack
>   by Israel on Iran. Of course, this will have to be
>   with the permission of Bush et al. Such an attack
>   could cause severe problems for the U.S. in Iraq,
>   and that may prevent it from happening.  --mkb
>   Begin forwarded message:
>
>     Subject: Israel Wants World to Have $100/Barrel
>     Oil In March 2006
>      The Sunday Times - World
>     [...]