Most Favored Nation

Great comment on the Walt-Mearsheimer paper in the Boston Globe, of all places. The writer, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, is British. This is de rigueur, as it does not seem possible for an American writier to discuss this topic without facing negative consequences.

What makes the paper more stinging is the fact that Mearsheimer and Walt write not from the doctrinaire left or the crackpot right but from the ''realist" foreign-policy establishment, and that they are on the faculty of highly respectable institutions. That, and their suggestion that America's ''unwavering support" for Israel, notably the $3 billion a year in direct aid, has no strategic or moral rationale anymore, if it ever had, and has among other things made America more, not less, vulnerable to terrorism. The clear implication is that loosening those ties with Israel would be in the American national interest.

Yup. That is the implication.

He goes on:

Whatever view is taken of that analysis, it is no secret that prominent members of the Bush administration who were ardent supporters of Israel were also strong advocates of invading Iraq to destroy Saddam Hussein. Supposing, then, for the purest sake of argument, that the war was fought in some manner to help Israel, did it do so? Ask an Israeli.

Lots of good stuff.

The Boston Globe

Hat Tip:Xymphora