As Iran/Hezbollah and Israel head towards a conflict that neither of them seems to want but neither of them seems to be able to avoid, it is worth stepping back and taking a look at the overall strategic picture between those two warring parties. Because of the high emotions that surround this conflict, the reporting is particularly bad regardless of which sides reporting you get. In a world that grows ever more divided, the Israel and Iran conflict still stands out as one in which it is particularly hard to get a dispassionate analysis. For this reason, I think it worthwhile to review basic facts that tend to get forgotten in the high emotions that surround this conflict.

The fundamental problem with most analysis of the conflict between Iran and Israel is that it often reduces the conflict to one of mutual hatred. Iran hates Israel and Israel hates Iran and so they fight. Therefore, the people talking about the conflict pick a side depending on their tribal preferences and hype up the conflict as if it was a sport’s game that both sides were trying to win. What this type of analysis misses is that both Iran and Israel draw benefits from the existence of the other even as they hate each other. To understand this paradox, you must look deeper into the strategic factors at play then is normally portrayed in your average news story. Continue reading →