Today's Run: http://bit.ly/72OrWH
This was a great history lesson around how the Middle East got into the current situation. A few interesting insights.
In the weeks leading up to the war, Egypt violated the cease fire agreement by going on "maneuvers" in the Sinai - the world did nothing. The closed sea shipping lanes to Israel violating international law - the world did nothing. The kicked the UN force out of the Sinai - the world did nothing. This is when Israel realized that they were alone in the world, and that no one would come to their aid. A notion that still mostly hold true today.
The magnitude of the military victory is truly amazing. Egypt had the latest Soviet military hardware and 25,000 Russian military "advisors" working with them for 2 years to train them in their use and tactics. They had state of the art fighters, radar and defense system. Israel had an array of 3 French air craft, a small jet that other countries used for training (no one else used it in combat), a bomber, and the now famous "mirage". These should have been no match for the state of the art Soviet fleet.
But in the most stunning aerial victory in military history, Israel wiped out the entire Arab airforce in 90 minutes. Flying at supersonic speed as low as 6 feet over the Mediterranean, and destroying 95% of the fleet while they were still on the ground.
Despite Israel's overwhelming victory, they were so ready for peace they were willing to give it all back (maybe not the Old City). Had the Arabs accepted it at the time, we'd have had 40 years of peace.
The most interesting point in the talk was:
The Arabs always negotiate based on the results of the last war. In '48, they refused the partition plan. After their defeat in '67 they were willing to accept the '48 boarders. After their defeat in '73 they were willing to take the '67 boarders... of course by then it's too late. You don't get to start a war, loose, then say "pretend it never happened, lets go back to how it used to be."
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