"I think, therefore I am." - René Descartes, Discourse on Method
Although difficult to calibrate or measure, Iranian nuclearization and Palestinian statehood are likely progressing at roughly the same pace. To be sure, this coincident or near- simultaneous progression is proceeding without any dint of conscious intent or coordinated design. Still, the cumulative security impact upon Israel could sometime prove substantial, even overwhelming.
The whole can be greater than the sum of its parts
World politics is not geometry. Within this most comprehensive sphere of possible human activity, the tangible "whole" of any expected impact could be effectively greater than the simple sum of its myriad "parts." This means, in consideration of any specific Israeli case focus, that such singly unique threats as Iranian nuclear weapons and "Palestine" should also be treated analytically with respect to their foreseeable conjunctions.
Contrary to longstanding conventional wisdom among strategists and military planners, these two converging threats do not present meaningfully separate, discrete or unconnected hazards to Israel. Instead, they portend intersecting, mutually reinforcing and potentially existential perils. Jerusalem, it follows, must do whatever is possible to remove or diminish the correlated dangers on both adversarial fronts, and at more-or-less the same time.
There is more. In this collectively "Cartesian" matter, Israel's extended "being" will be contingent upon prior and markedly capable strategic thinking. "It remains true," says F.E. Adcock in his classic The Greek and Macedonian Art of War (1962), "that the highest achievements of the art of war are more to be found in the triumph of mind over mind than in the triumphs of mind over matter." (p. 63) This observation remains true even today, perhaps even especially so, in particular regard to Israeli nuclear deterrence and corollary nuclear war planning. READ MORE
