Fateful Triangle

The Origins of the “Special Relationship”75the ways in which American power is used in the world and concernover torture, murder, aggression, and oppression. It had been hoped thatthe disease had been cured, but the popular reaction to Reagan’s revivalof Kennedy-style counterinsurgency showed that the optimism was premature,so Israel’s contributions are perhaps even more welcome thanbefore. It has, incidentally, been alleged that the U.S. has been opposedto Israel’s Latin American ventures (e.g., that Carter opposed Israel’s aidto Somoza), but this is hardly likely. There is little doubt that the U.S.could have prevented any intervention of which it did not approve, and itsometimes did so, though not in Nicaragua, where the Human RightsAdministration in fact supported Somoza to the end of his bloody rule,even after the natural allies of the U.S., the Nicaraguan businesscommunity, had turned against him.Israel’s services have extended beyond the Middle East, Africa andLatin America, to Asia as well. Thus on one occasion Israel suppliedAmerican jets to Indonesia when its arms were depleted in the course ofthe massacre of Timorese, and the Human Rights Administration, whiledoing its best to provide the armaments required to consummate thismission, was still reluctant to do so too openly, perhaps fearing that thepress might depart from its complicity in this slaughter. 52 Taiwan hasbeen a particularly close ally. The Israeli press speaks of “the FifthWorld”—Israel, South Africa, Taiwan—a new alliance of technologicallyadvanced states that is engaged in advanced weapons development,including nuclear weapons, missiles, and so on. 53 We return in chapter7 to these developments, which may by now be causing some alarm inWashington.With Reagan’s efforts to enflame the Nicaragua-Honduras border andSharon’s trip to Honduras, the Israeli connection became so visible as tocall forth some official denials, duly reported as fact in the New YorkTimes. Noting that Israel is “enlarging its military training missions andClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky