(Extremism) - '..Israel's intention - to force Iran out of its comfort zone of relying on regional proxies to challenge Israeli and US interests in the region.'

'..Further escalation will truly take the region into perilous, uncharted territory.'

'The attack that Iran is mounting on Israel is more extensive than had perhaps been anticipated.

But it was inevitable that Tehran would have to ratchet up its response after sustaining what it saw as a violation of its sovereignty with the strike on its diplomatic compound in Syria.

That may have been Israel's intention - to force Iran out of its comfort zone of relying on regional proxies to challenge Israeli and US interests in the region.

Now, Israel has the ball in its court as to how strongly it will hit back at Iran, which lacks the sophisticated air defence system that Israel has to defend itself.

Further escalation will truly take the region into perilous, uncharted territory.'

- BBC, Escalation will take region into perilous territory, April 14, 2024


'..American bases could become liabilities (or worse, targets) amid greater social turmoil in the Middle East.'

- (The U.S. out of the Middle East) - '..the US Military .. Leaves the Middle East..'


Context

(Extremism) - The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin: ‘He never knew it was one of his people who shot him in the back,’ October 31, 2020

(The Elders) - Palestinian and Israeli lives must be valued equally in global response to crisis, Elders warn

Israel .. Missing the Lessons of America’s 9/11


'..the oldest trick in the political book - the whipping up of a panic, in which any dissenting voice could be dismissed as "soft" or even "traitorous" - powers had been ceded by the people that would never be returned. Pompey stayed in the Middle East for six years, establishing puppet regimes throughout the region, and turning himself into the richest man in the empire.'

- The 'war on terror' that ruined Rome

(Haaretz) - '..the force Israel is using in Gaza is not proportionate..'



'..a permanent departure of U.S. military forces from the Middle East.'

'..only a few areas of the globe are of vital importance to U.S. security or prosperity..'

(The U.S. out of the Middle East) - Why Are American Troops Still in Iraq? - '..the case for leaving Iraq is even stronger.'


'Even the official US Army history of Iraq concluded that the real winner of the war in Iraq wasn’t America. It was … Iran.'