It's 12:51am, but I feel pretty safe awarding Tony Karon "Blog Post of the Day" for the Biggie Smalls proof explaining why Israel's posture towards Iran is probably just talk. For those who haven't been paying attention, Israel's been running some practice missions in the Mediterranean and leaking the idea that they're the run-up to a strike on Iran. This leads Karon to recall an interview with Biggie where the rapper was asked about Tupac's threats. "On the streets," said Biggie, "when someone is telling anyone who’ll listen that they’re going to kill you, you don’t have to lose any sleep over it. You’re not going to hear about it beforehand when the real killer comes.” If Israel wanted to attack Iran, they'd just attack Iran. They wouldn't telegraph their intentions. As Karon says, "when Israel bombed Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981, and when it struck what it claimed was a Syrian nuclear facility late last year, there was no coverage of the preparations for those missions in the New York Times." Rather, Israel wants other countries to think through the implications of an Israeli strike on Iran, and come to the conclusion that they'd best apply whatever pressure is needed to shut down the Iranian nuclear program before the entire region detonates. Of course, all this is no doubt hardening Tehran's intransigence, because so much as they can't be seen folding to American pressure, they really can't be seen bowing to Israeli demands. And thus the Middle East spins on...
