At this point in time we don’t know what sort of nuclear reactor Vladimir Putin had promised his Egyptian host Abdel-Fattah a-Sisi during the Russian president’s visit to Cairo last week. No actual construction is about to start in the immediate future and thus the nature of the project is moot.
Moreover, it’s not the only new reactor planned. Turkey is getting one as is our next door neighbor Jordan. The Saudis too are shopping for nuclear power.
In all instances, including that of oil-glutted Saudi Arabia, the pretext is the need for an energy source. This too is the pro forma excuse of Iran, another major oil-producer. Also cited is scientific research – hardly the forte or focus of any of the aforementioned countries.
Unlike Iran, however, none of the above had vowed to wipe Israel off the map which can theoretically somewhat ease our angst.
But the long term implication of the nuclear buzz in our vicinity bodes ill.
None of the governments around us that are so eager to acquire nuclear capability can even be trusted with the safe maintenance of such facilities.
Worse yet, even if the countries in question are currently run by governments regarded as relatively moderate, the sands of the Middle East are constantly shifting. There is no guarantee against insurrections and violent upheavals. Egypt itself had only recently been under the rule of the inimical Muslim Brotherhood, still a force to be reckoned with in that country.
The instability characteristic of most Mideastern societies could lead to the ascendance of irresponsible forces, to resort to understatement. These won’t necessarily even need sophisticated nuclear weaponry to terrorize the entire region. Small “dirty bombs” will suffice for that purpose. Herein resides the greatest danger.
The blame for this burgeoning nuclear race must be laid squarely at the door of the powers negotiating a deal with Iran. These are only negotiations in name. In effect the bottom line has already been scripted – the removal of sanctions from the ayatollah regime while leaving it very viably on the nuclear threshold.
Such appeasement won’t prevent Iran from developing nuclear weaponry. At the very most it may delay it for a few months and even that only for appearances sake. Iran has now basically attained all it needs for a plutonium bomb – it only has to assemble the parts.
Gallingly, Russia is among the so-called negotiators despite having been Iran’s foremost backer and having constructed reactors for it. If this isn’t an inbuilt conflict of interests, it’s hard to define what is. The fact that this same Russia now offers reactors – of whatever type – to other Mideastern states hardly inspires confidence.
All this while, the US silently suffers the sham and treats the international negotiating team as bona fide. Therefore, America is perhaps the one which bears the greatest guilt for the emerging regional nuclear race.
By watching Russia play it for a sucker for years and in fact colluding in the Russian scam by easing sanctions on Iran, the US has signaled all the countries in Iran’s proximity that they had better look after themselves and invest in creating a balance of terror.
The bad deal in-the-making with Iran – the one which both US President Barak Obama and nuclear facility retailer Putin are vigorously promoting – is geared to establish Iran as a regional nuclear power, one which America and Russia will each claim as its strategic ally.
What Washington desires is to underpin Shiite Tehran as the linchpin of forces confronting the extremist Sunni Islamic State – regardless of Iran’s own evil record. What Moscow wants is to fortify Tehran as the chief ally of another of Russia’s protégés, Syria’s embattled dictator Bashar Assad.
Since IS is also fighting Assad, there appears to be a Russo-American commonality of interests in this case.
This isn’t only bad news for Israel. Ours, it must be stressed, is not the only state which fears Iran, even if it is the most directly threatened by it. As the deal with Egypt now indicates, Russia already cynically exploits America’s acute myopia.
Bucking the Trend ... 
Obama really is blind? or is the other possible, more scary scenario probable? that this is entirely what he was hoping for? I would not give him enough intelligence (based upon his prior CV and current and most recent performance, he has achieved nothing) for the latter as that would imply elements of strategy, so another 2 years of this man as POTUS is dangerous for the whole world…dear oh dear…please don’t listen to the left Israel…Herzog and Livni will be Obama’s best buddies…and you know what that means – Gaza 2 in the west bank and Iran on all sides of Israel. please please wake up lefties! is that what you really want? thank you Sarah again for explaining things so clearly, you and Glick are Israel’s treasures…
Michael : Obama will be the last US president…he and his handlers will see to that.
Look for an announcement from a US Army general (probably sometime deep into 2016, if not before) that there will be a “continuity of government”.
The only question remaining is what sort of disaster will bring it about.
Do not for a moment think he is not intelligent. It does not pay to underestimate those we dislike. Of course he isn’t blind. He sees exactly what he is doing, His goal is to weaken the US. He as said as much in various speeches. If that entails endangering Israel, so be it.
Obama is NOT miopic but ***E V I L***, just like Putin he WANTS Iran to become a nuclear terror entity !!!!!!!
I saw the pictures of Irans Parchin facilities, before and after the attack, which was not carried out by the US and which was nothing less than a taboo for the international community of morons…
THAT’S the only cure for Irans mad mullahs…and we all know it.
That is precisely what obama is doing.
Obama is a rational politician (even if we may disagree with him). Thus, the question is: Cui bono?
Mr. Barak: Obama most decidedly is not a rational politician. Most rational pols allow for some disagreement with their policies. Obama doesn’t. Witness the fact that he won’t allow any press member who disagrees with him, to attend White House press conferences. He’s almost never asked a hard question. And witness his abhorrent treatment of PM Netanyahu. Everything with Obama is “I,I…..I!” In addition, he honestly believes his own nonsense, such as “raising the minimum wage will increase the labor supply!”(Since when does increasing the price increase supply?) No, this isn’t a rational pol at all.
What I fear is that one of Israel’s powerful arrogant fools of which it has no shortage will decide that what Israel really needs is a Westphalian balance of power – and secretly helps one of those Sunni states develop a Bomb.
It’s far past myopia. It is part of a coldly calculated strategy to reduce the US to the point it is incapable of defending itself or aiding Israel in its fight to survive.
Obama is more evil than ignorant. He knows what he is doing.
Secondly, Obama is the type who both has an affinity towards and thrives on chaos. It is his nature as a person. His nature is not one of responsible rational behavior but rather the opposite. It’s how he was brought up and it may even be to some degree genetic. Trying to understand Obama is like trying to understand Muslims and the Muslim world itself. Obama’s synaptic patterns do not match ours. We think differently. If not to study and understand how this can be, at a minimum, this must be accepted and remembered as an objective truth whenever dealing with Obama.
Evil is not mystical but rather those abhorrent psychological traits.
Evil hates good because evil cannot thrive in the presence and standards of the good. That is why there is the hatred of the good.
Obama will calculatingly do whatever is necessary to bring down America, destroy Israel and murder our people.
Iran has openly proclaimed its deadly intentions toward Israel, the “little Satan,” so it’s only natural that Obama’s all for a nuclear Iran. Iran has openly proclaimed its deadly intentions toward America also, the “big Satan” so it’s only natural that Obama’s all for a nuclear Iran.
Obama isn’t “myopic,” he is focused, hostile and deadly.
It’s the American Jews who voted for Obama in vast majorities that are myopic.
Obama isn’t incompetent…or rather, he’s incompetent by design. I believe he was put in office–foisted on us, by those who want to degrade, humiliate, and destroy the USA, to facilitate the rise of Iran and/or ISIS.
In this regard, it’s suspicious that Valerie Jarrett, Barack’s main advisor, was born in Iran. Why is Russia offering nuclear reactors to Middle Eastern countries? Very possibly because Iran now controls the Straits of Hormuz, where tanker ships carrying Middle Eastern crude have to pass, and historically, Russia has always campaigned to obtain a warm water port in that region, to get Iranian oil. So nuclear reactors are a means of pacifying the competition. Reminds one of the time Obama got caught with the microphone on, back before the 2012 election, where he said, “Tell Vladimir I’ll be more amenable after the election….” We now know what he meant by “amenable!” This reader has only one question. If Obama’s goal is to support Tehran, why doesn’t he make war on ISIS?
Great evil any way it’s cut; will likely lead to WWIII. Thanks so much, Sarah, for your insight and writing.