I remember reading this somewhere years ago. The idea is that Israel will nuke Paris, Berlin, London, etc, in the event that the west cuts off their support and allows it to be defeated by an enemy force.
Is this just a dumbass conspiracy theory, or is there something to it?
I've heard talk about this for a long time, generally called the Samson option, obviously after the biblical figure. Thing is, it just sounds like a "normal" nuclear deterrence strategy of mutually assured destruction, but I know very, very little about it.
Seymour Hersh has a book about Israel's nuclear history (called Samson option). I've never personally read it, but Hersh is a respected journalist and I'm sure there's some useful information in it, if you're interested.
I don't understand Israel and nukes anyhow. They're obviously nuclear armed, but also somewhat ambiguous about that fact. So I don't know how it functions as a deterrent if it's a secret.
Israel keeps its nuclear weapons secret so that the Dimona reactor can skirt IAEA inspection. It is only open for US inspectors and require advanced notice, which renders the inspection useless because they have time to cover up everything in advance. Basically it’s not letting you know exactly how many nukes they have and obfuscates indications of what they intend to do with their nuclear weapons program.
Didn't Isreal get a lot of their nuclear program from straight up stealing blueprints from the American program? Think I remember a few of the insane right wingers on twitter making that point before I blocked them all and Elon deleted my account.
I highly doubt the Israelis would need to steal nuke plans. They are quite literally the US' best and strongest "we will literally die with you" friend. Since nuclear de-proliferation was the strategy for a long time (perhaps the original idea...) the US had/has treaties and such agreeing to not just give nukes away and stuff. But what if someone just left a folder full of all the classified information needed on a coffee table and got up and left the room? Hmm. It was hugely in Israel's/US' interests for Israel to have nukes to threaten Iran and the USSR, back in the day, with. I dunno, them having to steal any sort of weapons tech from the US just seems very unnecessary when we would happily give them anything at any time no matter what they're doing.
I haven’t read it, but my understanding is that the Hersh book “the Sampson option” mentioned above largely chronicles the development of Israelite nukes, and how multiple US presidents “turned a blind eye” to their theft of secret US documents.
I guess I'm not disputing the underlying premise that Israel got nuke technology through dubious means. I'd just say the idea of them "stealing" it seems... unnecessary? Why steal what your friend will give away? Maybe the stealing illusion is part of the US keeping on the good side of treaties.
I think you’ve nailed it—I don’t personally know, but i think it’s a well let you “steal” it so you can get them but we won’t be culpable kinda thing.
Because everyone involved wants "stealing" to be the explanation? It's one of those geopolitical things where it's obvious lies wrapped in obvious lies but it doesn't matter that everyone knows that so long as no one who matters admits it formally. Like the US blowing up that pipeline: yes, it's abundantly obvious that they were the only ones with the means, motive, and opportunity to do it and every other possibility is absurd, but it doesn't matter as long as no one admits it because the issue fundamentally cannot be pressed further.
I completely forgot about that fucking pipeline... there's too much shit... what a wild thing to just be able to openly do and it's been basically forgotten
The difference between MAD and the Samson option, is that in the former you're only attacking whoever attacked you, while in the former you're attacking bystanders that refused to intervene on your behalf.
this isn't the same thing as the Samson option, which refers to Israel's willingness to retaliate against an enemy nation which has attacked it. OP's scenario is a complete fantasy that he picked up from someone whose brain was about a liter too small for their skull.
Seymour Hersh is one of the only true Journalists left that isn't in hiding, constantly moving, prison or bunkered up somewhere. We would never have learned about the war crimes the U.S. committed in Vietnam if it wasn't for his reporting on the Mai Lai Massacre, or more recently the Nordstream False Flag.