Louis René Beres
Truth vs. Slogan in World Law: Disclosing Vital Differences
"The martyrs are our children and they are our families. They honor us...." (Mahmoud Abbas, PA President, Speech to PLO Central Council, January 14, 2018)
Judging from recent comments by Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president,...
“Simple,” But “Still Difficult” – Improving the Underpinnings of Israel’s Strategic Future
Special to JewishWebSight
"Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is still difficult."
Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Although an apparent paradox, Carl von Clausewitz's classic juxtaposition of simplicity and difficulty is actually quite...
Improving Israeli Military Strategy Through Avant Garde Analysis
In strategic studies, just as in art, music, or literature, avant garde means an imaginative willingness to take conceptual leaps. There are several ways in which Israeli strategic studies could benefit from the creativity...
Iran, Israel and Anticipatory Self-Defense: Applying Legal Standards
In the final analysis, of course, any Israeli judgments on launching a defensive first strike against Iran must be based upon entirely operational considerations. This means, inter alia, that even if certain appropriately supportive criteria could...
Surviving Donald Trump: Israel’s Strategic Options
While Israel has always been determinedly self-reliant on core matters of national security, this posture needs to become even more explicit in the disjointed "Trump Era." In correctly acknowledging the unpredictability and possible incoherence...
Repairing the World at its Source
In the Introduction to his eccentric but still magisterial The Decline of the West (1918), Oswald Spengler acknowledges the inspirational “philosophy of Goethe.” More precisely, he thanks this most seminal of classical thinkers for what today...
Impeaching the President: Identifying Deeper Jurisprudential Foundations for Lawful Removal
"Reluctantly, I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to U.S. national security."
General (USA/ret.) Barry R. McCaffrey, March 18, 2018
"The safety of the People Shall be the highest law."
Cicero, The Laws
******
In plausible...
Twin perils for Israel: Iranian nuclear weapons and “Palestine”
"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...
Trump and Putin: What’s Really Going On?
"I like chaos." — United States President Donald Trump, March 4, 2018
Credo quia absurdum. "I believe because it is absurd." In the very best case scenario, President Donald Trump is "merely" incompetent, fundamentally incapable of meeting...
Looking Beyond Power Politics: A Longer Term Israeli & Global Imperative
For many years, I have been lecturing and publishing widely about Israel's nuclear strategy. By definition, of course, much of this work has been irremediably speculative; hence, it's derivative policy prescriptions have had to...