GIULIANI: INCLUDE ISRAEL IN NATO

Giuliani: Israel should join NATO (JTA)
Rudy Giuliani called for Israel to be included in an expanded NATO. Addressing an Anglo-American friendship group in London, the Republican presidential candidate said Wednesday that NATO should be encouraged to press the global war on terror.

"We should open the organization's membership to any willing state that meets basic standards of good governance, military readiness, global responsibility -- regardless of location," Giuliani said. "I think we should consider countries such as Australia, Singapore, India, Israel, Japan."

Keen to build up foreign alliances ahead of any showdown with arch-foe Iran, Israel has recently stepped up tactical cooperation with NATO.

But both sides say full incorporation is a long way off: Israel, whose defense strategy is predicated on military autonomy, would balk at the requirement that it consult with NATO partners before launching major operations.

NATO TO ISRAEL: "STOPPING IRAN IS UP TO YOU"

NATO sees Israel tackling Iran alone (JTA)
NATO leaders reportedly told Israel that it would have to stop Iran's nuclear program alone.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who visited NATO headquarters in Brussels two weeks ago, came away with the impression that Western powers are unwilling to resort to pre-emptive military strikes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Yediot Achronot reported Tuesday.

"We're stuck in Afghanistan, and European and American troops are wallowing in the Iraqi quagmire, which is something that is going to prevent the leaders of countries in Europe and America from deciding on the use of force to destroy Iran nuclear facilities," the newspaper quoted an unnamed NATO leader as telling Lieberman.

"Therefore, at the end of the day, Israel is going to have to remove the nuclear threat posed by Iran with the means at its disposal, and it won't be able to count on international cooperation."

Lieberman's office had no immediate comment on the report. But interviewed on Army Radio, Lieberman said he felt the "spirit of Chamberlain" in Europe when the Iranian threat was discussed – a reference to the British prime minister who notoriously tried to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II.

'Time running out for Iran strike' (JPost)
Predicting that sanctions will ultimately fail to stop Teheran's nuclear program, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of Military Intelligence's Research Division, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that time to launch an effective military strike against Iran's nuclear installations was running out.

According to Kuperwasser, who stepped down from his post last year, Iran is "very close" to the point that it will cross the technological threshold and have the capability to enrich uranium at an industrial level. Once they master the technology, the Iranians will have the ability to manufacture a nuclear device within two to three years, he added.

"The program's vulnerability to a military operation is diminishing as time passes," Kuperwasser said, "and they are very close to the point that they will be able to enrich uranium at an industrial level."