Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Latest buzz is that Israel and the US are considering a joint surgical strike limited to Iran’s enrichment sites. Foreign Policy‘s David Rothkopf writes:
The strike might take only “a couple of hours” in the best case and only would involve a “day or two” overall, the source said, and would be conducted by air, using primarily bombers and drone support. Advocates for this approach argue that not only is it likely to be more politically palatable in the United States but, were it to be successful — meaning knocking out enrichment facilities, setting the Iranian nuclear program back many years, and doing so without civilian casualties — it would have regionwide benefits . . .
It’s not the size of the threatened attack, but the likelihood that it will actually be made, that makes a military threat a useful diplomatic tool.
• Israeli officials are shifting gears and talking up sanctions. The Washington Post takes note.
• Tehran claims it blocked a new cyberattack on offshore oil platforms. You know who they blame. AP coverage.
• The Washington Post updates Iran’s domestic tensions: inflation and food prices are rising sharply — as is popular discontent. See also the Wall Street Journal.
• A think tank predicts that that Iran could build a bomb in 10 months. AFP coverage.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Ambassador Michael Oren (Boston Globe), The Australian (staff-ed), Sydney Morning Herald, Hamilton Spectator, David Makovsky as well as Newsweek‘s war game.
Arab Spring Winter
• Gotta love today’s dueling headlines: 
• Sign of the times: The Times of Israel reports a spike in Golan Druze seeking Israeli citizenship.
“I believe this trend will only increase,” a Mas’ade resident who holds Israeli citizenship told the paper. “More and more people comprehend that this [Israel] is a well-managed country and it’s possible to live and raise children here. It is preferable to turning into refugees in another country.”
• For the first time, Hezbollah confirms the death of one its own in Syria, while on unspecified “jihad duties.”
• Worth reading: Be wary of playing Turkey’s great game
• 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan gave a provocative speech on Afghanistan and the Taliban, sparking a sharp response from a Chicago Sun-Times reporter:
She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.”
Our enemies are writing the story, she suggests, and there’s no happy ending for us.
As a journalist, I was queasy. Reporters should tell the story, not be the story. As an American, I was frightened.
Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. . .
In the “good old days,” reporters did not advocate, crusade or call for revenge.
Logan’s becoming the Anti-Lauren Booth minus the steroids.
• Rebels in Aleppo told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that the West’s lack of assistance is forcing rebels to play the jihadi card. Rebels in Samas told the NY Times much the same thing.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Hurriyet: Relatives of Turkish “martyrs” from the Mavi Marmara filed a lawsuit against Israel.I wonder which reporters joined the suit.
Among the plaintiffs in the case are people who were seriously wounded in the attack, members of the press, and nurses. The plaintiffs’ 33 cases request a total amount 10 million Turkish Liras in compensation from Israel.
(Image of Paris via Wikimedia Commons/Bernard bill5, bomber via Flickr/US Air Force, Logan via YouTube/CBSNewsOnline)
For more, see the previous Israel Daily News Stream.
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