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Powell: Israel has 200 nukes pointed at Iran

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Cocaloch

Member
I wonder if Israel would actually use nukes if they feel threatened, i mean they are fucking nukes! If they did use them against Iran i wonder how the other players in the region would react.

Israel does whatever it thinks it needs to do to survive. But part of their calculations always involve public opinion damage from their actions and how they think it might affect relations, US and UK in particular. They probably wouldn't use them because that make all of Europe swing completely against Israel. It would possibly even affect American public opinion, though who really knows. If they would use them it'd be like '56 where the Israelis waited for some sort of reason to "actively defend" itself, and even then I don't think most people that any reason necessitates the use of nuclear weapons in 2016.

Nuclear dick waving at its finest.

It's not dick waving. Israel doesn't even admit to having them.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
I was gonna make a post about how everyone with nukes has them all ready to go at major cities in the world since that's like the entire point of nuclear deterrence. Then I saw the line that Israel never declared itself a nuclear state.


yeaaaaaaaaah that's pretty shitty
 
I wonder if Israel would actually use nukes if they feel threatened, i mean they are fucking nukes! If they did use them against Iran i wonder how the other players in the region would react.

wouldn't the fallout eventually effect Israel

or it could effect other neighboring countries that might get pissed at Israel for doing so
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
It's not dick waving. Israel doesn't even admit to having them.

I mean, it kind of is dick-waving. Literally everybody knows Israel has them. It's just Donald Trump levels of dick-waving: he didn't come out on stage and say "I have a huge dick", but he damn well heavily implied it. Israel's nukes are Donald Trump's dick in this analogy.

That last sentence has never been said before in the history of mankind.
 

Cocaloch

Member
I was gonna make a post about how everyone with nukes has them all ready to go at major cities in the world since that's like the entire point of nuclear deterrence. Then I saw the line that Israel never declared itself a nuclear state.


yeaaaaaaaaah that's pretty shitty

Pretty much everything Israel, and especially the current government, does is pretty shitty.

I mean, it kind of is dick-waving. Literally everybody knows Israel has them. It's just Donald Trump levels of dick-waving: he didn't come out on stage and say "I have a huge dick", but he damn well heavily implied it. Israel's nukes are Donald Trump's dick in this analogy.

That last sentence has never been said before in the history of mankind.

I think of dick waving as a prestige thing. Israel doesn't have nukes for prestige. It has them for Israeli defensive purposes.

Israel isn't looking to impress anyone with its nukes.
 
They wouldnt directly attack they would misplace or lose a nuke that gets in the hands of terrorist that would use it. That way there is no country or city to hit back. Or just claim they never lost a nuke so it didnt come from them.
 
Pretty much everything Israel, and especially the current government, does is pretty shitty.



I think of dick waving as a prestige thing. Israel doesn't have nukes for prestige. It has them for Israeli defensive purposes.

Israel isn't looking to impress anyone with its nukes.
I dont know about you but when I want to intimidate someone I wave my dick at them :p
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I think of dick waving as a prestige thing. Israel doesn't have nukes for prestige. It has them for Israeli defensive purposes.

Israel isn't looking to impress anyone with its nukes.

Eh. I mean, they're partially for defensive purposes in the event that worst timeline world happens, but really? Even if say Syria or Egypt reopened the Golan Heights, Israel would (probably) not use nukes. They would turn the entire Arab world on them on a dime; that level of disproportionate response would incite the world. They might use them in the events that, say, Iran actually invaded... but everyone knows that world is not happening. And that's been the way for nearly two decades now and shows no signs of abating as Iran slowly realigns away from Russia foreign policy wise.

Israel mostly continues to have nuclear weapons because it knows as long as it has them, everyone else wants them, and then it can sell that to America's press as a reason to support Israel. It's bait, basically. So not quite dick-waving just for prestige, but for a country that officially doesn't have nukes, they're sure very keen to let everyone know they have nukes and how fucking awesome they are.
 

commedieu

Banned
They wouldnt directly attack they would misplace or lose a nuke that gets in the hands of terrorist that would use it. That way there is no country or city to hit back. Or just claim they never lost a nuke so it didnt come from them.
Wrong countries have nothing to do with wars. The us has proven that time and time agaim. They'd be blamed and invaded either way. As far as terrorist stealing a nuke, the same could be said about many nations with nukes. Like pakistan for example. Or north korea.

Also. Whose to say Israel wouldn't lose a nuke, that just happens to glass iran. I mean.. they don't have them right?
 

Joni

Member
I rather trust the country with the highest human rights records in the Middle East versus the one that hangs teenagers for religious reasons.

I don't know if I would trust any country that thinks it is okay to keep nukes aimed at another country.
 

Ogodei

Member
Is it suspected that Israel has ICBMs, or do the watchers just think that they're bomber-deployed or midrange missiles?

I guess the mid-rangers could hit Iran from where Israel is, at least the western parts.
 

Cromat

Member
In terms of worldwide foreign policy only the US and Israel find Iran troublesome. Everyone else knows they're not really a threat at all.

That's not true at all. The Syrians butchered by Assad, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hizbullah beg to differ.

Not to mention the Saudis who are waging a proxy war against Iran throughout the Middle East.
 
quite frankly though in a geopolitical spectating sense

the only place that Israel fears of going to war to is Iran (maybe Iraq may join too since some parts of Iraq is basically leased land to Iran)

quite odd since the 6 day war days... and I doubt Iran would even attack Israel in the first place without causing some crazy world war

they can't play the surrounded by countries that want to invade it, card anymore
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
The guy I quoted tried to spin things into making Israel look evil and Iran all innocent.

But Iran is the only theocracy who will kill you for going against their religion.

You sounded like you wouldn't mind if Israel actually shoot those 200 nukes and completely obliterate Iran.
 
I wonder what would've happened if the US didn't veto the Palestinian vote stuff over and over again and Palestine was eventually recognized officially and everything went back to the 1967 borders


of course maybe some back and fourth inflammation between Israel and Palestine

then a wall of some sort for the 1967 borders and what not

then likely cold relations between the two for so long but at least the main hurdle would've been done by then

who knows maybe after 30 years after that they might've even eased the border walls or some generations later were the future population wouldn't be so ill mannered to each other
 

Servbot #42

Unconfirmed Member
Israel does whatever it thinks it needs to do to survive. But part of their calculations always involve public opinion damage from their actions and how they think it might affect relations, US and UK in particular. They probably wouldn't use them because that make all of Europe swing completely against Israel. It would possibly even affect American public opinion, though who really knows. If they would use them it'd be like '56 where the Israelis waited for some sort of reason to "actively defend" itself, and even then I don't think most people that any reason necessitates the use of nuclear weapons in 2016.



It's not dick waving. Israel doesn't even admit to having them.

That's an interesting analysis, makes me want to read more about Israel foreign policy.


wouldn't the fallout eventually effect Israel

or it could effect other neighboring countries that might get pissed at Israel for doing so

Oh right i didn't thought about that, the fallout could spread beyond iran's border, i bet saudi arabia wouldn't like that one bit.
 
Oh right i didn't thought about that, the fallout could spread beyond iran's border, i bet saudi arabia wouldn't like that one bit.

the gulf sea could get affected

which wouldn't be good for oil drilling, shipments or the marine ecosystem

interestingly enough Pakistan with UAE and the US did a drill together with the inclusion of Israel

Pakistan's foreign relations is like a trying to please everyone but then also going to the extreme is pleasing a certain group at specific time

but when it comes to action that is another story

but this is the Pakistani government which is not the people
A lot of powerful people are invested in keeping Israel in control of Jerusalem for a variety of reasons. Israel isnt really big enough to be a powerful nation with no external help.

I know but currently? Why?

Giving them money? They make more money then SA and you don't see SA getting any free cash.... it was first for geopolitics but the ME today isn't the same ME before

Egypt gets it though too (but they are a larger population and not really able to pump out the money they need to purchase their equipment)

the world is so weird.... I wonder how it is going to be when millennials take over
 

kswiston

Member
I don't get this whole aid thing for Israel

maybe in the past but now aren't they finiancially stable

can't they afford these things on their own :/

A lot of powerful people are invested in keeping Israel in control of Jerusalem for a variety of reasons. Israel isnt really big enough to be a powerful nation with no external help.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member

That's Pakistani citizens, not the Pakistani state (this statement holds true for like everything about Pakistan, lol). Iran-Pakistan relations have improved recently, but Pakistan refusing to help Iran with their nuclear development program and Pakistan and Iran supporting different factions in Afghanistan didn't help. The 1998 Mazar-i-Sharif incident made things very difficult for a while.
 

Cocaloch

Member
I mean, it kind of is dick-waving. Literally everybody knows Israel has them. It's just Donald Trump levels of dick-waving: he didn't come out on stage and say "I have a huge dick", but he damn well heavily implied it. Israel's nukes are Donald Trump's dick in this analogy.

That last sentence has never been said before in the history of mankind.

That's an interesting analysis, makes me want to read more about Israel foreign policy.




Oh right i didn't thought about that, the fallout could spread beyond iran's border, i bet saudi arabia wouldn't like that one bit.

It's a very well researched topic.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393346862/?tag=neogaf0e-20

The Iron Wall is a very impressive work of scholarship that is actually quite readable by a wider public. It's written by an Israeli who is quite critical of his country and doesn't have much of an Israeli apologist streak. But perhaps more importantly he also does a excellent job of not over vilifying his figures, with the possible exception of Netanyahu who is such a shitty guy it's hard to tell, and presenting the situation to be as morally complicated as it actually is.

It's a bit lacking on the early Zionist period though so it wouldn't serve as a complete history. Also I'm generally not a fan of his approach to writing, wherein judgement are incredibly common, as a historian, but in his case I don't think it really damages his argument too much. It certainly makes it more readable to lay people who generally want history to have strong moral statements.
 

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
That's Pakistani citizens, not the Pakistani state (this statement holds true for like everything about Pakistan, lol). Iran-Pakistan relations have improved recently, but Pakistan refusing to help Iran with their nuclear development program and Pakistan and Iran supporting different factions in Afghanistan didn't help. The 1998 Mazar-i-Sharif incident made things very difficult for a while.

Even despite that, there isn't much tension between the Iranian and Pakistani governments at all. In fact, after the Saudi diplomatic incident with Iran, Pakistan stepped in to help mediate between the two countries because they felt that they have a good relationship with both.
 

Jacob

Member
To be fair Israel isn't really treating anyone badly for religious reasons, it's ethnic ones. Much like in Ireland religion is an effective shorthand for the more complicated ethic reasons involved.

In fact Israel is quite a bit like Northern Ireland, which is odd because I don't know if I've ever seen anyone mention it.

You see a fair bit of pro-Palestinian sentiment in Republican murals in NI. Maybe not as much as for the ETA/Basques but still.

Somewhat ironic since in the early 20th century there was a good deal of sympathy between the Zionist movement and the Irish Republican cause, especially since both were trying to revive a largely long language (something the Irish were less successful at in the long run). Plus they were both fighting the British at around the same time. Yitzhak Shamir studied Michael Collins' tactics and then later generations of the IRA studied Begin and Shamir.
 

Cocaloch

Member
You see a fair bit of pro-Palestinian sentiment in Republican murals in NI. Maybe not as much as for the ETA/Basques but still.

Somewhat ironic since in the early 20th century there was a good deal of sympathy between the Zionist movement and the Irish Republican cause, especially since both were trying to revive a largely long language (something the Irish were less successful at in the long run). Plus they were both fighting the British at around the same time. Yitzhak Shamir studied Michael Collins' tactics and then later generations of the IRA studied Begin and Shamir.

Yup the Israelis were consciously emulating Sinn Fein. A number of them directly stated that in some interviews from the 70s.

That being said I don't think it's really that Ironic, situations change. The Israel of the second half of the 20th century and today is not very similar to what people were thinking about in the 20's-40's. For obvious reasons the Irish have long, even before independence, considered themselves "friends of small nations".

I'm not quite sure the Irish to Hebrew comparison is that on though. The problems with Irish is it was seen as provincial and therefore backwards by a large number of people, in addition to Ireland being so close geographically and economically to England that the fact that almost everyone spoke English was hard to overcome. The Irish government to this day also has massive pedagogical issues surrounding Irish instruction. It might also be noteworthy that unlike Hebrew Irish never died as a vernacular.
 

Wag

Member
A lot of powerful people are invested in keeping Israel in control of Jerusalem for a variety of reasons. Israel isnt really big enough to be a powerful nation with no external help.

They are also a strategic power in a prime location- the only democracy in the region. The military aid keeps the US in their good graces.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
You don't point nukes on anything. Israel has just missiles with the range capable of hitting Iran.
US and Russia had 1000s of missiles aimed at each other back in the 70s. ICBMs had to be launched in seconds if there was a threat of a nuclear attack. Now countries like US, Russia, China, India etc have nuclear triads so their land missiles aren't aimed at a specific country. Israel thinks Iran is a threat so Powell isn't wrong. If Iran obtains a nuke and attacks Israel, the counterattack will be instaneous becuase they already have nukes pointed at Iran.
 
You don't point nuclear missiles. You have a list of targets which any missile with the range is capable of hitting. This isn't likely artillery where you physically point the weapons at a target.

200 all pointed at one city

overkill much

He's likely using the term to refer to all of Iran.
 
US and Russia had 1000s of missiles aimed at each other back in the 70s. ICBMs had to be launched in seconds if there was a threat of a nuclear attack. Now countries like US, Russia, China, India etc have nuclear triads so their land missiles aren't aimed at a specific country. Israel thinks Iran is a threat so Powell isn't wrong. If Iran obtains a nuke and attacks Israel, the counterattack will be instaneous becuase they already have nukes pointed at Iran.

USA and Russia didnt just point it at each other, they also worked together to plan to hit over targets including South Africa

Cold war was so messed up
 

medrew

Member
I don't get this whole aid thing for Israel

maybe in the past but now aren't they finiancially stable

can't they afford these things on their own :/

The 38billion of aid has to be spent on American defense equipment. It's really a transfer to American corporations.
 
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