I'm all in favour of 'big sticks,' Marc. The bigger the better as far as I'm concerned.

I lived through the 'Cold War decades of the last century when 'big sticks' were all the rage back then.
It was a time when relatively minor 'hot' wars were still very much in evidence but the big one, WW3, never materialised. The brandishing of some very big 'big sticks' was imposing enough to make sure that this never happened. Cuba was about as close as it came and, afterwards, nothing approaching that level of criticality was ever allowed to happen again.

Of course, the 'big stick' scenario only really works when both sides have access to the aforesaid items. When just one is in possession, only a really credible threat to the survival of that nation could ever justify their use. An obvious example would be the 'Samson Option,' Israel's alleged policy of total destruction when faced with the prospect of complete and utter defeat at the hands of its enemies.

In the recent battle in the skies over Israel/Gaza, the 'big sticks' were never in the picture. If they had been, it's damn certain that every offensive measure would have been immediately curtailed and many questions then raised about the mental capacity of the respective military and political commanders.

Logic would dictate, therefore, that if an armoury of 'big sticks' were made available, on a free and equal basis, to each contender in the present Israeli/Palestinian arena, the most rapid conflict de-escalation of all time would then descend upon the region. Or it might well lay in radioactive ruin until many, many generations had passed.

The trick must be to provide the contenders here with a non-lethal and certainly non-radioactive variant of a 'big stick' supply. Then the entire business can be sorted out in a manner far more amenable to constructive dialogue and produce a positive outcome that, at the moment, seems totally unreachable.

Http://yorketowers.blogspot.com

Non-lethal, non-radioactive. And going some way towards becoming just about as scary – and therefore as effective – as the real thing.

How easily you and so many who are desperate for any kind of counterfeit 'friends' are deceived and SNARED by smiling, devious and treacherous destroyers who use the peace to snare naive Israel.

How is it that so many in Israel still can't connect the dots?
The UN, created by the US is headquartered in the US , the chief economic city of the Empire.
It is the US that has pushed Israel into retreat and appeasement for a totally false peace and who is always rewarding Israel's enemies for their bad behavior and always restraining Israel and coming to the rescue of Hamas or Hezbollah while playing the dubious part of 'ally, friend'.
It is the US which has called for the creation of a completely unnecessary extremist Islamic state in the heart of Israel with contiguous borders.
It is the US which pays the majority of the budget that keeps the UN and the Palestinian Terrorist Authority alive.
I guess it is hard for the idol worshipers of Israel to see beyond the bright luster and polish of the false god they serve who leads them to a second holocaust?

Exodus 23:27-33
"You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."