SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Israel achieves security not by balancing or managing threats, but by dominating all its neighbors.

https://x.com/tparsi/status/2035492384079806541

Trita Parsi

I am seeing a lot of commentary from pro-war commentators claiming that Iran's effective retaliation against Israel, as well as its 4,000 km range missiles, "proves" that Iran was an "imminent threat." This is, of course, nonsense since Iran didn't strike until it was first attacked. But it shows the extent to which these pro-war commentators have adopted Israel's military logic to construct these arguments. A threat is normally defined as "capacity + intent." Just having the capacity to strike at you is not sufficient to qualify as a threat; there must also be hostile intent. Otherwise, the US would have to go around the world and destroy all military capabilities in other countries since those capabilities would constitute a threat in and of themselves. It's an absurd and unsustainable approach to security. But that is exactly how Israel defines threats. As legendary Israeli air force general David Ivry explained to me, Israel takes intent out of the equation since it presumes that all regional states ultimately will seek its destruction if they ever have the capacity to do so. Thus, Israel has to ensure that no country - or combination of countries - has the military and political capability to challenge Israel. When they do, those capabilities have to be eliminated. (This is Israel's goal in its war with Iran.) As a result, Israel achieves security not by balancing or managing threats, but by dominating all its neighbors. Achieving Israel's dominion is incidentally enshrined in US law, in which the US has to ensure Israel's "strategic military edge." It is this logic that these pro-war commentators are now using when they claim that Iran's surprising military performance "proves" that it was an imminent threat. Not only have many of these commentators adopted Israel's goals and justifications for this war, but also its profoundly flawed security logic.

10:02 AM · Mar 22, 2026