David Rothkopf Quotes
If a nuclear power is willing to be bolder than another, it can take limited conventional actions without fear of major pushback.
David Rothkopf, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Executive Editor, Foreign Affairs, Referring to Russia's Actions in the Ukraine, "Mappa Mundi", Foreign Policy, March / April, 2015
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This rhetoric turned out to be just that. When Israel developed a nuclear capability, the Egyptians became more rational and sobered. It was Anwar Sedate however who was the Egyptian leader wise enough and strong enough to make peace with Israel.
In both the First and Second World Wars the Western nations had a multilateral defense pact which did little good in the face of German aggression.
This was the 14th part of the Japanese reply to a previously made American peace proposal. The Japanese policy was to unite all of Asia into a co-prosperity sphere controlled by Japan where Japan would militarily conquer those Asian countries which did not “voluntarily” want to join. The Japanese were in the process of conquering China and the United States and Britain had embargoed oil and other material to Japan trying to pressure them to withdraw their troops from China and cease Japanese conquest by force. Japan believed that it was their right to conquer and control Asia and it was beneficial to the region, and that the U. S. and Britain had no right to curtail the expansion that Japan required to assure raw materials and other necessities. At the very time that these negotiations were on going, the Japanese fleet was sailing for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack took place the very day this part of the Japanese reply was received.
1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. Baldwin has been castigated since WWII for being part of the “appeasement group” in England. As Prime Minister in 1935 he would not face the threat of Fascism, Germany and the Nazis and did not initiate a major arms buildup. Churchill, among others, never forgave him. See {626930} for Churchill’s view of Baldwin.
As the atomic bomb evolved to the hydrogen bomb and the test results were learned by political and military leaders, the perception of the danger became much greater, especially when the Russians and French also developed their nuclear weapons. After that, and Einstein’s predictions about the cost and quantity, leaders in the world all became conscious of the danger of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), most leaders realized that it was impossible see atomic weapons as anything but defense.
Israel started it nuclear weapons program under Perez’s leadership. They do not admit that it is even in existence. Yet all their potential enemies in the Middle East realize that they have enough nuclear weapons capacity that if they are in danger of being overrun, they can literally destroy the attacking nation and all the countries that might be assisting that nation. Before Israel had developed this capability, some in the Middle East had as their objective to destroy the state of Israel and “drive the Jews into the sea”. No one believes that it is now possible to militarily defeat Israel without the attacking nations also being destroyed. For years, Israel has had the military might to conquer any nation in the Middle East and use their nuclear shield to protect them from any interference, but they have not done so demonstrating that the Israeli governments will not use nuclear weapons for any other purpose.
David J. Rothkopf is a professor of international relations, political scientist and journalist. He is the founder and CEO of The Rothkopf Group, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a visiting professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, a prolific author, and podcast host of Deep State Radio.
