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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (197698)	8/17/2006 11:46:06 AM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

While Hezbollah's ongoing rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel are indeed illegitimate and can certainly be considered acts of terrorism, it is important to note that such attacks were launched only after the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on civilian targets in Israel began July 12. Which began only after Hezbollah had attacked Israeli soldiers. The Hezbollah attack on the Israeli border post that prompted the Israeli assaults, while clearly illegitimate and provocative, can not legally be considered a terrorist attack since the targets were military rather than civilian. I'm fine with that. They were not terrorist attacks, but they where provocative, probably "illegitimate" (but I'm not sure what that would really mean) and they where also an act of war. I think it's that Israel has the fourth most powerful military in the world. Largest = most destructive power. I still find that unlikely. 4th seems a bit high. Ranking countries in this way is difficult. How do you weigh sea power against land power? How much weight do you give to nuclear ability if you don't think the war will go nuclear. Do you include the physical size of the country (large countries give more strategic depth, Israel has very little depth), or do you imagine the war takes place at some neutral site? Do you consider the ability to mobilize for a total war and how many men could be armed (Israel has a small population). I'm not sure you could say Israel is more powerful than the major European powers. Its clearly less powerful than the US. Russia might be in decline but it still is much bigger, has a lot more nukes, and a much bigger army, navy and air force. China is also much bigger, as is India. The average level of technology and training might be lower in those two countries but they are so much bigger, and they do have some decent military technology as well. Even North Korea has a much bigger army. NK's air force is probably weak compared to Israel's (it has more planes but most of them are old, and the training program for pilots is limited). Its army might have less, flexibility, staying power, and less skill than Israel's but it has an awful lot of raw firepower. If North Korea had a border with Israel its army might be able to roll over Israel before Israel's superior ability to coordinate maneuvers, and its superior air force, attritted away NK's armor. If Israel had a lot of strategic depth, and it it was fully mobilized at the time of the hypothetical (and in reality impossible) invasion, than I think it would win, but it doesn't have strategic depth. OTOH even if NK has nukes (and I think it might have a few), I'm sure it has less than Israel. South Korea might possibly be considered more powerful than Israel. It's a fairly modern force, with larger standing forces and larger reserves. Japan spends a lot more on its military than Israel. But than neither SK or Japan has nukes. If you had full mobilization, and a protracted war, Israel's smaller population would count against it, and a number of countries could be considered to be more powerful than Israel. (perhaps Pakistan could be added to the list under these circumstances). If you count only standing forces and ready reserves, and the war is a quick war of maneuver (and the US resupplies Israel if Israel needs it) than the numbers of countries more powerful than Israel would be much smaller. But I still don't think I'd rank Israel number 4 in the world. But it is the most powerful country in the region.