It's more like a game of Texas Hold'em where nobody wants to turn the cards over. It's all bluffing and posturing until the cards get turned over and people find out who was bluffing and who wasn't, but by then it's too late and the metaphorical "pot"--the collective body count--is getting divided up and paid for amongst the players.
It's more like a game of Texas Hold'em where nobody wants to turn the cards over. It's all bluffing and posturing until the cards get turned over and people find out who was bluffing and who wasn't, but by then it's too late and the metaphorical "pot"--the collective body count--is getting divided up and paid for amongst the players.
Hmmm. I think most Arab players in this war, or its expansion (Sunni or Shia), would prefer the chess analogy to any suggestion they resembled "Texas" gamesmanship.
I'm talking about Israel vs Hamas/Houthis/LH/Iran here, not the Arab regional players. The dirty little secret of the Near East is that most of the Arab states don't give a shit about what happens to the Palestinians apart from Jordan and to a certain extent Egypt because they both have to deal with the border issue and Palestinian refugees. Iran hates Israel, Jordan is sympathetic to the Palestinians, Egypt doesn't want border issues, everyone else mostly doesn't give a shit and doesn't want to touch that area with a 10ft pole.
It's more like a game of Texas Hold'em where nobody wants to turn the cards over. It's all bluffing and posturing until the cards get turned over and people find out who was bluffing and who wasn't, but by then it's too late and the metaphorical "pot"--the collective body count--is getting divided up and paid for amongst the players.
Hmmm. I think most Arab players in this war, or its expansion (Sunni or Shia), would prefer the chess analogy to any suggestion they resembled "Texas" gamesmanship.
The diplomacy is in the implications.
I'm talking about Israel vs Hamas/Houthis/LH/Iran here, not the Arab regional players. The dirty little secret of the Near East is that most of the Arab states don't give a shit about what happens to the Palestinians apart from Jordan and to a certain extent Egypt because they both have to deal with the border issue and Palestinian refugees. Iran hates Israel, Jordan is sympathetic to the Palestinians, Egypt doesn't want border issues, everyone else mostly doesn't give a shit and doesn't want to touch that area with a 10ft pole.