Uncommon Commentary #247: A New Meaning for the Term "Atomic Clock"

The world is right to have concern over the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran—It would be nice if we had enough concern over this threat to take serious action against it, as opposed to the tired approach of using economic sanctions, which have never worked versus anyone and won't work now—but there is a geostrategic question that we perhaps ought to ask in regard to another Near Eastern state whose name begins with "I": If, as is thought true, Israel possesses nuclear weapons, how much longer will it be before this country is forced to use them vs. its increasingly antagonistic neighbors, who have so great an advantage in both manpower and "conventional" ordnance?