Surviving Amid Chaos

Israel's Nuclear Strategy

By (author) Louis René Beres

Not available to order

Publication date:

04 April 2016

Length of book:

194 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442253261

Now facing a genuinely unprecedented configuration of existential threats, Israel's leaders must decide whether to continue their deliberate nuclear ambiguity policy (the "bomb in the basement") as they consider such urgent and overlapping survival issues as regional nuclear proliferation, Jihadist terror-group intersections with enemy states, rationality or irrationality of state and sub-state adversaries, assassination or "targeted killing," preemption, and the probable effects of a "Cold War II" between Russia and the United States. Israel must develop a strategic posture that will involve a suitably coherent and refined nuclear strategy. This book critically examines Israel's rapidly evolving nuclear strategy in light of these issues and explains how it underscores the overarching complexity of strategic interactions in the Middle East.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Core Requirement of Nuclear Weapons
Chapter 2: Refining Strategic Choices
Chapter 3: Deciphering Enemy Intentions and Capabilities
Chapter 4: Preserving a Sensible Samson Option
Chapter 5: Convergences of Law and Strategy
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Index
About the Author

Purdue Professor Louis René Beres is an internationally recognized author and expert on nuclear weapons proliferation and strategic realities for Israel and the Middle East. The existential threat to Israel has increased in complexity since he was Chairman of the 2003 Project Daniel under Prime Minister Sharon. The objectives of the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty have failed and today brings into question the deterrence effectiveness of Israel’s policy of "Nuclear Ambiguity."