Mene mene tekel upharsin Redux

The handwriting on the wall... Israel's slim chances depend on avoiding global economic recession, right? Since that's unlikely, expensive military adventures in Gaza — and the cheap temporary halo-polishing about West Bank settlements which invariably precedes IDF actions somewhere — mean Israel falls into economic Götterdammerung.

Guns and butter, right? Found wanting in the scales of common sense, world justice, strategy and tactics, the result can only be political ruin, national collapse when the Palestinian-controlled Knesset dissolves the state of Israel, and absorption into Iran by intense regional indifference. (Nobody really wants the Palestinians, remember?)

Heck, even if Bernie Madow were a secret agent of AIPAC siphoning billions of American dollars to Tel Aviv and nobly taking the rap as a lovable scamp scam artist, there aren't enough legitimate cash flows connecting Israel to the world to keep the Zionist golem alive. So Gaza is a gamble, and Hamas, like Hezbollah, like Osama bin Laden is simply waiting for the inevitable last twitch.

Bin Laden's nuts. He tells you what his strategy is, and expects your arrogance to ignore the input.