#netanyahuspeech

#NetanyahuSpeech Sets Dangerous Precedent - #netanyahu.

No country in the world should have nuclear weapons. In fact, I support the efforts of the Global Zero organization which seeks to implore nations to reduce the number of their nuclear weapons. However, this fear-mongering on the part of Netanyahu is insanely irrational. Contrary to popular paranoia, it's extremely unlikely that the world will fall into nuclear war. I'm not saying it's not completely terrifying to live in a world where nuclear weapons exist at all, but very few nations are crazy enough to use one at this point. Nuclear weapons function mostly as leverage for serious negotiation and diplomacy.

Take North Korea for example. If any country is crazy enough to actually use a nuclear weapon, it would be North Korea. But they haven't. Why is that? If they really wanted to, they would have by now. What does a nuclear weapon give North Korea that they normally wouldn't have? It's basically a big "Don't fuck with us!!!" sign. And guess what? No one fucks with North Korea. 

The cold war, as terrifying as it was, was actually the longest period of U.S. peace in the 20th century. Don't misinterpret me. I'm not saying it's a good idea for countries to have nukes pointed at each other. What I am saying is that the mere presence of one doesn't mean it's going to be used. No one takes Iran seriously, despite their burgeoning economy. They're the ones with nukes constantly pointed at them. U.S. military bases have Iran completely surrounded, and while the U.S. has thousands of nuclear weapons, Israel also has hundreds of nuclear weapons. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine if the U.S. had no nuclear weapons, but the U.S. was completely surrounded by the military bases of a country that has thousands of them. Who's the real threat here? You can't argue that the U.S. isn't crazy enough to actually use one, because the U.S. is the only country in history to have ever actually used a nuclear weapon. 

It's the U.S. and Israel which are threats to peace, not Iran. I'm not saying that the Iranian government isn't completely corrupt and evil. I am saying we're the aggressors. The U.S. is a warring imperial power, and Iran hasn't invaded another country in many decades. There is zero evidence that, even if Iran developed a nuclear weapon, they would use it. They're always full of rhetoric, but who isn't? Rhetoric means nothing. Actions do. And if you examine the actions of the U.S. and Israel versus Iran, the U.S. and Israel are by far the guilty parties in terms of death, destruction, imperialism, and war. Iran can't hold a candle to the West even if they tried. They're defenseless. This is why I must emphasize this point: judge a country by its actions, not its rhetoric.

Gene Gibbons covered six U.S. presidents during a 40-year reporting career. He has served as a U.S. Army officer, been a fellow at Harvard and appeared as a U.S. presidential debate panelist.

Gene is one of News-Decoder's correspondents, who together have more than nine centuries of experience reporting from all continents.

I asked Gene for his thoughts after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress this week. The visiting leader said Washington was negotiating a bad deal with Iran that could spark a "nuclear nightmare". That drew a rebuke from President Barack Obama and exposed a deepening U.S.-Israeli rift.

Here is Gene's perspective:

"It's necessary to go all the way back back to April 19, 1951, to find a parallel to Netanyahu's controversial address to Congress this week.

"On that occasion, Republicans challenged President Harry Truman's firing of Army General Douglas MacArthur by inviting MacArthur to speak to the Legislative Branch. Their aim was to embarrass Truman and his fellow Democrats, and maybe start a groundswell for a MacArthur presidential candidacy in 1952.

"The maneuver backfired. The American public backed Truman's right as commander-in-chief to sack MacArthur for insubordination -- he had criticized Administration efforts to limit the war in Korea -- and, more broadly, strongly upheld the U.S. constitutional principle of civilian control of the military.

"MacArthur, one of the most famous battle captains of World War Two, soon slipped into relative obscurity and today is chiefly remembered for overreaching. Truman, on the other hand, is celebrated as one of America great leaders.

"It's too early to tell how Netanyahu's bid to energize opposition to an emerging nuclear deal with Iran will play itself out. He insisted he was not out to undercut President Obama's push for an agreement, but rather needed to alert the United States and the world to a clear and present danger.

"What seems clear, however, is that the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is less sacrosanct today than it was before Netanyahu allied himself with Obama's Republican critics, ignoring diplomatic protocols.

"His action injected a partisan note into the U.S-Israeli dialogue. National Security Advisor Susan Rice termed his course 'destructive' and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the speech 'an insult.'

"Much editorial commentary has been even more scathing, with some raising questions about U.S-Israeli ties in a tone unheard since 1956, when President Dwight Eisenhower forced a rollback of a Suez Canal takeover by Israel, Britain and France."

Like other News-Decoder correspondents, Gene has the benefit of a historical perspective shaped over decades and in the front lines. Here is his thumbnail biography:

Gene Gibbons – Covered U.S. Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton during a 40-year career with Reuters and UPI. Was past president of the Radio-Television Correspondents Association and served as a Presidential Debate panelist in 1992 and as a Joan M. Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2010. An ex-U.S. Army officer, once served as press aide to U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey. A volunteer coach for the U.S. Naval Academy’s sailing team, is a veteran of long distance ocean races and has written articles for SAIL, Sailing World, Chesapeake Bay Magazine and other publications.

We are honored to have Gene on the News-Decoder team.