America vs. Israel 2010

Bret Stephens summons his imaginative powers and envisions the not-so-distant future when the U.S. fails to exercise its Security Council veto in defense of Israel's not-so-secret nuclear program. Even as a work of fiction this strikes me as implausible, not least because, as Daniel Larison reminds us, the Obama administration has already given Israel the green light that it's nuclear arsenal is OK by us. Yet there is also the subtext of outrage that the U.S. would even consider framing its interests in a way that differ from Israels. But countries are going to disagree, even allies and even on matters of major significance. There's really nothing shocking about that.

(AP Photos)