Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Israeli sub transits Suez Canal

It surprised me that the government of Egypt recently permitted an Israel submarine to move to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. I wonder what signal Egypt is sending to Iran by permitting this. It would be easy enough for the Israelis to offload any nuclear-tipped missiles at one of its Mediterranean port sbefore ...

584044_090706_submarine2.jpg
584044_090706_submarine2.jpg

It surprised me that the government of Egypt recently permitted an Israel submarine to move to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. I wonder what signal Egypt is sending to Iran by permitting this. It would be easy enough for the Israelis to offload any nuclear-tipped missiles at one of its Mediterranean port sbefore the canal transit, and then pick them up down in Eilat. 

Meanwhile, Bahrain just sent its first-ever official delegation to Israel. Maybe the neocon dream of the Arab world deciding to focus on Iran instead of Israel is two small steps closer? Even a stopped clock … 

Meanwhile, I see in the new issue of Proceedings that in May, Australia had only one submarine available for immediate sea duty. That’s kind of sad.

Joris Machielse/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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