Balance of Power: Israel, Pakistan and Iran.

While Iran and Pakistan have been trading low-level military strikes on each other’s border recently, it needs to be seen in the context of Balance of Power politics.

Iran and Pakistan are Muslim countries; Iran is Shiite, and Pakistan is Sunni. There is no love lost between these two branches of Islam. The tensions shared by Pakistan and Iran would normally follow a well-trod path from the conflict management book.

However, one should never miss an opportunity to take advantage of another’s misfortune, should it be to one’s advantage. Enter Israel, the ultimate benefactor of the conflict between Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan. The balance of power takes centre stage. For Iran v Pakistan, everything depends on exhibiting its perceived omnipotence; for Israel, on demonstrating the limitations of Iranian influence.

In revolutionary periods as it is today, threats assume a universal scope; only then are defensive coalitions to be generalized. It’s in Israel’s interest to encourage the memory of common danger. Sub-terranean intervention in Pakistan and Iran’s domestic and foreign affairs is justified on the grounds of overriding necessity. Israel must play the balance of power card. Iran menaces the Jewish State, and Israel cannot act upon abstract principles of precaution. It, therefore, follows that Israel must undermine the security of both Iran and Pakistan. While not suspected of selfish motives. Israel must act on considerations of self-preservation, not because of vague enunciations of principle. The Jewish State’s objectives are, for this reason, easier to state in negative than in positive terms. They reflect the policy of a medium-sized power to which the Iran, Russia, and China triumvirate and proxies, if unified under a single rule, would represent a mortal threat to the Jewish State. It’s this defensive conception of foreign policy that sees Israel in the role of balancer in Middle East equilibrium.

Finally, Israel will manipulate the Balance of Power based not on sentiment but on cold calculation. The rest will be history!