Israel has nukes? Who knew….

The latest kerfuffle over Israel's nuclear arsenal reminds me a bit of the classic scene in Casablanca in which one of the casino's employees hands a wad of cash over to Inspector Renault just as he's saying, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

Everyone knows Israel's got a nuclear arsenal. It's in Israel's best interests for everyone to know. That's the whole point of nuclear deterrence. If the other guy doesn't know you've got nukes, you can't deter him. And yet the Kabuki theater continues, this time over Ehud Olmert's accidental admission of the obvious:

In a German television interview broadcast on Monday as he began his first official visit to Berlin, Olmert said: "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"

Olmert aides said the remarks, which were made in English, did not constitute an admission that Israel has atomic weapons.

 Shocked. Gambling.