Iran and Israel

I am reminded of a bit of history while reading about the issue of Iran and its nuclear power program, or as Israel claims, it's nuclear weapons program.  Prior to 1914 German and Austria-Hungry were in the same place.  The German government gave Austria-Hungry a "blank-check" to deal with their problem with the nation of Serbia.  History tells us that a Serbian nationalist assassinated an heir to the throne of Austria and the Austrian government wanted to use the issue to force Serbia to give in to its demands.  They were, by the way, not that concerned about the Archduke and his wife-the victims-as they were not well liked by his family or the country.  But the incident provided Austria with a opportunity to gain back some land lost in the Balkans to new countries in the region.  So, in the popular vernacular, Germany told Austria "we got your back" and the Austrians used it to make unreasonable demands on Serbia.  Even after these demands were met the Austrians declared war on the smaller nation.  Now the you-know-what hits the fan and German was stuck with a situation that soon developed into a world war; the "great war" as historians note, and the world or at least Europe was never the same.  We should recall that the generals in 1914 are like the military-industrial complex today; just itching for a chance to use their war plans and weapons.

We are in that place now with our willingness to back Israel is whatever they want in regard to Iran and their nuclear power/weapons program.  If we make the same mistake of granting a "blank check" to an ally without making every effort to restrict their military actions, we very likely could be drawn into a war in a region that is already a powder keg ready to explode.  If that happens a lot of innocent people will be killed or made homeless.  As the Indian proverb goes, "When the elephants fight, only the ants get stomped".