Israel’s safety could best be served by waging a “just war” against a still pre-nuclear Iran.

Louis Rene Beres | August 12, 2024

An illustrative image of warplanes in flight. Source: DeepAI.

During its impending war with Iran, Israel’s overriding objective should be to keep that jihadist enemy non-nuclear. The best way to meet this objective will be by systematically controlling conflict escalations (“escalation dominance”). In the final analysis, this task will require Israel to shift from “deliberate nuclear ambiguity” to “selective nuclear disclosure.”

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Peloni: Due to Cyberattack, please skip to 54min to hear beginning of interview.  Also see associated stories below the Trump interview.

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By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”, August 12, 2024,

*Iran’s Shiite Ayatollahs share a common strategic goal with Russia, China and Sunni Islamic terrorism (e.g., the Moslem Brotherhood, including Hamas) to undermine the geo-strategic posture of the US, in the Persian Gulf, the Middle East at-large, Africa, as well as Latin America, which is the soft underbelly of the US. However, the State Department insists on a diplomatic option toward the Ayatollahs, which has yielded them hundreds of billions of dollars, since 1979, bolstering their anti-US rogue capabilities….

*Bringing “The Great American Satan” to submission has been a top priority for Iran’s Ayatollahs since the toppling of the Shah in February 1979, as evidenced by their rogue actions, 1979 Constitution, school curriculum, mosque sermons and military indoctrination. However, Foggy Bottom would not consider the regime-change option….

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Peloni: Gen. Avivi discusses the situation on the Gaza-Egyptian border and that Israel has successfully ended the transfer of weapons across that border, both above and below ground.  With this, Avivi explains that Hamas’ access to weapons has been cut off with the limited possibility of them receiving some supply from the sea.  He goes further to explain that the movement of weapons into Judea and Samaria must likewise be ended.  At the end of the briefing, Avivi shares his views on the relevance of the holiday of 9th of Av, and how it relates to Zionism and victory over our enemies.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | August 12, 2024

There is a struggle going on in Iran right now between the newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian and his allies on one side, and the IRGC generals on the other. Pezeshkian believes that a direct attack by Iran on Israel, unless carefully limited, and without causing civilian casualties, will lead to a potentially catastrophic response that will destroy the Iranian economy, after Israel has, to take one example, bombed to smithereens the oil terminals at Kharg Island, where 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow out to customers world-wide. The IDF has also been able in the past to hit petrochemical plants and other industrial infrastructure deep inside Iran without the Iranians being able to mount a defense. There is no reason to believe that Iranian defenses against Israeli airstrikes are better now.

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Sundance | August 12, 2024

It’s mid-August and the headlines are increasingly looming around the Ukraine v Russia conflict. You can sense it; I can sense it, and we all need to trust our instincts.

As we navigate our way through this intense foreign and domestic political gaslighting, lies being created daily by government officials and their allies in the corporate media, being able to hone your instincts becomes even more critical. Not many people can do it.

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Peloni:  Interesting conversation about strategy between two policy experts, each from their own side of the aisle, and both brainstorming on the best approach by which Trump might have the best opportunity to win in November.  It is interesting to hear some of the same concerns expressed by Batya Ungar-Sargon being described by Wolf in this interview.

And here I am, proven correct again. These attacks from tribal leaders, who hardly work in cooperation with the legitimate government of Syria, as Syria has an army, and if Syria wanted to take back the oil fields militarily, they could have done so with the army, have caused the… https://t.co/IUFLOv8oBq

— Lavinia Colzani (@lavinia_colzani) August 8, 2024

By Hugh Fitzgerald | August 11, 2024

Undeterred by the threats coming from Hezbollah and the Iranians, that they intend to exact a terrible revenge on Israel for the killings of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut, and of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, at a guesthouse in Tehran, Israel is continuing its campaign to kill Hamas leaders – cutting off the head(s) of the snake — and the IDF has just demonstrated, yet again, its remarkable ability to locate and take out key terrorists even as far away as the French Riviera, northern Lebanon, eastern Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Dubai. How they manage to identity so precisely in what room their targets will be sleeping, or being driven on what road in what car, only the Mossad knows.

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Peloni:  This is an important article.

By Andrea Widburg | August 11, 2024

Image: YouTube screen grab.

As we are learning in this information-saturated age, the most powerful weapon isn’t the bullet, it’s the word. Now that word is out that Israel is no longer the victim of a provable genocide but, instead, the perpetrator of an imaginary genocide, antisemitic actors around the world, including in the Harris-Biden administration, feel justified in withholding weapons from Israel, threatening its conduct of this war, and demanding that she surrender even though it is winning. Seven former US Department of Justice Prosecutors who earned their stripes prosecuting Nazi War criminals—including our own Clarice Feldman—have struck back with a powerful op-ed.

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Peloni: Fascinating analysis by Bryen.  The Nazi and the Ukrainian motivation behind launching these two battles are quite distinct even as they were both associated with significant risks.

Stephen Bryen | Weapons & Strategy | August 11, 2024

American engineers emerge from the woods and move out of defensive positions after fighting in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium

Some Weapons and Strategy readers say that there is a strong resemblance between the current Kursk battle and the Battle of Bulge that raged in December, 1944 to January, 1945.  It is a topic worth exploring.

The Battle of the Bulge was an attempt by the Nazi forces to break the Allied advance into Germany.  Hitler was facing two main allied forces, namely the British and Canadians in the north and the Americans in the south.  The Nazi war plan was to split the Allied armies and drive westward, hoping to capture Antwerp.  Antwerp port was the main supply line for the Allied armies.  Had the gamble been successful, the Allies would have been in a serious predicament and probably would have been open to making a deal with Hitler.

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By Sha’i ben-Tekoa

Image: Israel’s Iron Dome system from an IDF press release. CC BY-SA 3.0.

t the Democratic Party has stooped to calling J.D. Vance and other Republicans “weird” is a milestone in the descent of Jefferson’s party toward rock bottom. It is nothing but name-calling worthy of children, and they do this because they have nothing of substance and intelligence to challenge the Republicans’ policies, led by Donald Trump.

However, for sheer weirdness, nothing beats the Israelis, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had a sense of this. Following the satanic horrors of October 7, he said, “Any other people would have flattened the Strip.”

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Earlier today the Israel Defense Force and Shin Bet conducted a Precision Strike on a Hamas Command-and-Control Center inside of a Mosque within the Al-Taba’een School Complex in Gaza City, with it so far Confirmed that 19 Senior Members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad… pic.twitter.com/xx6sz7jNG0

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 10, 2024

by Peter Huessy and Stephen Blank  •  Gatestone Institute • August 9, 2024

Four recent reports call for major new investments in US defense spending, completion of the current nuclear deterrent modernization effort, and also recommend, given the projected rise of military power by America’s enemies, that the US add serious new nuclear capabilities to its deterrence. Pictured: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test on August 2, 2017, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (Image source: U.S. Air Force)

• All four reports called for major new investments in US defense spending, completion of the current nuclear deterrent modernization effort, and also recommended, given the projected rise of military power by America’s enemies, that the US add serious new nuclear capabilities to its deterrence.

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