Melbourne, Australia - Consider this: you are a willing outcast, with few longstanding and stable friends and a number of formidable enemies. How do you survive? By trying to convert your enemies to friends, or by instilling fear in your many enemies?

To the extent to which states may choose how they are perceived by others through their strategic posture and actions, when it comes to the matter of nuclear deterrence, critics of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions (note that I quite deliberately said "alleged") might best calibrate their position in view of Israel's own longstanding nuclear capability (note the acknowledgement of an existing "capability").