The Jewish widow, Judith, saves the city of Bethulia from siege by the Assyrians by adoring herself and venturing into the enemy camp to gain access to the Assyrian general, Holofernes. He invites her to a banquet intending to seduce her, and while they were alone at the feast, Judith took advantage of Holofernes' drunkenness to decapitate him, and returned to Bethulia with his head in a sack.
I like Vanunu's brilliant technique for ferreting out whether his date is a Mossad agent or not. V: "Are you Mossad spy?" Honeypot Cindy: "No, no, no." V: "OK".
It is well known for some decades now that Israel has nuclear weapons. The stuff that Vanunu revealed was hardly in the AQ Khan league. The state agencies should stop harassing that mild eccentric.
One man's mild eccentric is another man's dangerous traitor. Ask Jonathan Pollard. I'd say Vanunu was beyond eccentric and more or less nuts. Yes everyone "knows" that Israel has nuclear weapons the same way that everyone "knows" that Kagan is a lesbian, but in both cases there are important benefits to deniability. It was not Vanunu's job to make decisions with far reaching diplomatic ramifications on behalf of the state of Israel.
Vanunu was a lowly technician. Accordingly he had no access to the networks that Israel uses to obtain parts or material for her programs. That kind of information would have been valuable to her enemies. His photographs while interesting, contained no information that a student of nuclear engineering would have found novel. Pollard's case on the other hand is a more serious one, he seems to have been a junior Aldrich Ames, the only difference being that Pollard's activities didn't lead to anyone's death.
Vanunu caused diplomatic damage by making Israel's ambiguity regarding nuclear capability (already obviously false) even falser. Deniability is a valuable currency in diplomacy even if everyone knows the truth and it was not Vanunu's prerogative to cash that currency in for his personal gain.
Ames sold out to the #1 sworn enemy of the US. Israel is ostensibly America's best friend in the Middle East and in any event is in no position to attack the US, so how did what Pollard did cause any real damage to US national security?
Like Vanunu, Pollard is now a pawn in someone else's game - a warning to encourage the others, a way to make a point, to advance other men's careers, etc. Their humanity is now besides the point. When you mess with fire on the level of offending national interests, you are liable to get burned, even in "unjust" ways so I can't feel too bad about either man. In current fashion, the US and Israel both like to (and this is their prerogative as global/regional powers) send rockets into the homes/automobiles of people who they deem to offend national interests, in order to blow such enemies into smithereens, so sitting in a jail cell (or in Vanunu's case, confined to the country) is getting off easy.
I am not sure Vanunu's pictures were inoffensive. Vanunu has been working for a numbe of years in the facility, knew personally everybody and was familiar with place. In Israel, once you are certified by consensus that you are "one of us", everything is open to you, equality and confidence is the rule. Just collecting some of the waste paper contents of the copier machine he could have acquired that is to be known.
I hope and pray security is better than you describe. One thing that we have learned in America is that appearances can be deceiving. Ames was from an old WASP family and his "us-ness" was one reason why he was considered above suspicion and was not detected for many years. Not to mention the usual unbelievable bureaucratic incompetence.
12 comments:
The Jewish widow, Judith, saves the city of Bethulia from siege by the Assyrians by adoring herself and venturing into the enemy camp to gain access to the Assyrian general, Holofernes. He invites her to a banquet intending to seduce her, and while they were alone at the feast, Judith took advantage of Holofernes' drunkenness to decapitate him, and returned to Bethulia with his head in a sack.
K
Interesting story. Thanks for the explanation.
The honey trap is the oldest trick in the book but it still works for the Israelis:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1463230/Vanunu-claims-he-asked-Mossad-honey-trap-if-she-was-a-spy.html
I like Vanunu's brilliant technique for ferreting out whether his date is a Mossad agent or not. V: "Are you Mossad spy?" Honeypot Cindy: "No, no, no." V: "OK".
K
The first rule is to ask the question directly.
Then you apply permitted physical pressure. With Cindy, a feather would have done it.
J that's hilarious.
It is well known for some decades now that Israel has nuclear weapons. The stuff that Vanunu revealed was hardly in the AQ Khan league. The state agencies should stop harassing that mild eccentric.
One man's mild eccentric is another man's dangerous traitor. Ask Jonathan Pollard. I'd say Vanunu was beyond eccentric and more or less nuts. Yes everyone "knows" that Israel has nuclear weapons the same way that everyone "knows" that Kagan is a lesbian, but in both cases there are important benefits to deniability. It was not Vanunu's job to make decisions with far reaching diplomatic ramifications on behalf of the state of Israel.
K
Vanunu was a lowly technician. Accordingly he had no access to the networks that Israel uses to obtain parts or material for her programs. That kind of information would have been valuable to her enemies. His photographs while interesting, contained no information that a student of nuclear engineering would have found novel. Pollard's case on the other hand is a more serious one, he seems to have been a junior Aldrich Ames, the only difference being that Pollard's activities didn't lead to anyone's death.
Vanunu caused diplomatic damage by making Israel's ambiguity regarding nuclear capability (already obviously false) even falser. Deniability is a valuable currency in diplomacy even if everyone knows the truth and it was not Vanunu's prerogative to cash that currency in for his personal gain.
Ames sold out to the #1 sworn enemy of the US. Israel is ostensibly America's best friend in the Middle East and in any event is in no position to attack the US, so how did what Pollard did cause any real damage to US national security?
Like Vanunu, Pollard is now a pawn in someone else's game - a warning to encourage the others, a way to make a point, to advance other men's careers, etc. Their humanity is now besides the point. When you mess with fire on the level of offending national interests, you are liable to get burned, even in "unjust" ways so I can't feel too bad about either man. In current fashion, the US and Israel both like to (and this is their prerogative as global/regional powers) send rockets into the homes/automobiles of people who they deem to offend national interests, in order to blow such enemies into smithereens, so sitting in a jail cell (or in Vanunu's case, confined to the country) is getting off easy.
K
I am not sure Vanunu's pictures were inoffensive. Vanunu has been working for a numbe of years in the facility, knew personally everybody and was familiar with place. In Israel, once you are certified by consensus that you are "one of us", everything is open to you, equality and confidence is the rule. Just collecting some of the waste paper contents of the copier machine he could have acquired that is to be known.
I hope and pray security is better than you describe. One thing that we have learned in America is that appearances can be deceiving. Ames was from an old WASP family and his "us-ness" was one reason why he was considered above suspicion and was not detected for many years. Not to mention the usual unbelievable bureaucratic incompetence.
K
It must be something genetic. The "us-ness" cannot be fought.
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