[Salon] War calculus





Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more


In our previous post, we considered the distributive property as regards a possible world war resulting from recent hostilities in West Asia.

Here we question the suitability of the fable of the bees.

So far, armed aggression looks as exhibitionistic, that is, as ‘performative’, as the diplomacy of the aggressors. What is their real aim? Who is their real audience?

Or, we might ask, who has gained?

  • Netanyahu, by extending, once more, his political life

  • Iranian champions of nuclear armament

  • Other champions of nuclear armament

  • American neoconservatives

  • European and other hand-wringers

  • Zionist superpatriots

  • Anti-Semites

Who has lost?

  • The human casualties, including civilians

  • The last true believers in the non-proliferation regime

  • The Palestinian people, whose tragedy has moved from from the front to the back pages of most newspapers

All that may change with an actual regional or world war. If one comes about, it probably won’t be by choice.

Talleyrand is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Talleyrand that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.

Pledge your support


This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail (Mailman edition) and MHonArc.