Red lines or deadlines?

September 10th, 2012 | http://www.lobelog.com/red-lines-or-deadlines/

Farideh Farhi

The different language used in the latest public row between Israeli and US officials is actually quite telling. The notion of a “deadline” rejected by Hillary Clinton suggests a time frame beyond which the Iran talks are declared useless, kicking into gear a shift to the attack mode. A “red line”, on the other hand, requires the specification of a point in technological advances, the crossing of which would elicit an attack.