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INDEX OF POLICY PAPERS
By Date:
By Topic: Israel's Grand Strategic Thinking |
ANTI-BALLISTIC MULTI-LAYER DEFENSE FOR ISRAEL THE THREAT BY ROGUE REGIMES TO THE WORLD ORDER
Policy Paper No. 51, From the book Executive Summary With the end of the Cold War, following the collapse of the USSR and the falling of the Berlin wall, many people have become hopeful for a “new world order” of peace, democracy, and economic plenty, which will gradually become the norm for a world headed by the US, the sole superpower. In his famous article, Fukuyama called this "the end of history". Ten years have gone by and the new world is characterized by increasing disorder, in which the “New Middle East”, an unstable region at the best of times, is generating an increasing threat to the countries and peoples of the region. This is true both for the immediate region and for countries far beyond its boundaries. Israel faces dangers which increasingly threaten its very existence in this New Middle East. This is not Central Europe, and Israel's neighbors are not the Swiss. The situation is one which is unfamiliar to the West. Israel must live with neighbors such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and the like. These are rogue regimes, which are acquiring and developing various kinds of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) – nuclear, biological, and chemical – with the capability of delivering them via ballistic missiles. These regimes are all hostile to the democratic Western world and its culture, values, and lifestyle. Some of them, such as Iran, are motivated by extremist fundamentalist ideologies, that view the West as a cultural enemy, the struggle against whom is a long-term affair. Western civilization must be overcome and replaced by that of Islam. The regimes do not trouble themselves with human rights and freedom, with the rule of law, or with honoring signed agreements. They all lack cultural inhibitions regarding the use of violence to advance their political aims, including the use of WMD. |