Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Israel: Seven Existential Threats

A convoy of Israeli armored military vehicles leaves the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel early Monday, Sept. 12, 2005. Convoys of Israeli troops began driving out of the Gaza Strip early Monday, as the Israeli military wrapped up its pullout from the coastal territory after 38 years of occupation. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

From Commentary Magazine:

Rarely in modern history have nations faced genuine existential threats. Wars are waged to change regimes, alter borders, acquire resources, and impose ideologies, but almost never to eliminate another state and its people. This was certainly the case during World War II, in which the Allies sought to achieve the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan and to oust their odious leaders, but never to destroy the German and Japanese states or to annihilate their populations. In the infrequent cases in which modern states were threatened with their survival, the experience proved to be traumatic in the extreme. Military coups, popular uprisings, and civil strife are typical by-products of a state’s encounter with even a single existential threat.

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