Louis René Beres
International Law and WMD Attacks on Israel
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 808, April 24, 2018
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the years ahead, Israel could face the growing prospect of WMD terrorism – i.e., attacks involving chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons. In this...
Science, Security and American Nuclear Strategy: An Intellectual Challenge
“…. science – by which I mean the entire body of knowledge about things, whether corporeal or spiritual – is as much a work of imagination as it is of observation…. the latter is...
Israel, Hamas Terror and Power Over Death
“I believe is the one great word against metaphysical fear.”-Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West (1918)
Though misunderstood by Israel, there is no more compelling form of Jihadist power than power over death. The perilous result of...
Israel versus Hamas: Proportionality, Perfidy and the Law of War
“It must not be forgotten that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.”
-Guillaume Apollinaire, The New Spirit and the Poets (1917)
Whenever Israel finds itself in...
A Time For Candor: What Have We Learned From The Pandemic?
“The enemy is the unphilosophical spirit which knows nothing and wants to know nothing of truth.”
Karl Jaspers, Reason and Anti-Reason in our Time (1971)
By definition, Covid-19 has been a crisis of biology. Nonetheless, certain core explanations for American...
American Nuclear Strategy: Challenge of Mind, not Politics
In human history, the highest achievements of war preparedness and war avoidance can be found in triumphs of intellect, or victories of mind over mind. Today, in an unstable world of growing military nuclearization, major world...
A Provident Posture for Israel: Facing Nuclear Iran as an Intellectual Problem
“Subjugating the enemy’s army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence.” Sun-Tzu, The Art of War
Mitigating Trump-Policy Mistakes
Though Donald Trump sought to convince Israel that US withdrawal from the Iran pact would be gainful,...
Realpolitik And Power Over Death: Unceasing Delusions Of World Politics
“Individual man sees in his country the realization of his earthly immortality.”
Heinrich von Treitschke, Lectures on Politics
History: “An Illustrious War Against Death”
Where to begin? Why acknowledge that world politics holds a key for personal immortality? What...
America and North Korea: Seeking Plausible Nuclear Objectives
“Deterrence is concerned with influencing the choices that another party will make, and doing it by influencing his expectations of how we will behave.”
Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict (1960)
Though America’s current president began on...
A Stain on Jewish Values: Israel’s Misguided Obeisance to Donald Trump
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary….
Rabbi Hillel, Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
Introduction: Trump and Talmud
Israel’s largely enthusiastic support for Donald J. Trump...