and how would you facilitate better relations w/ the current iranian government? do you think Obama's talk first, conciliatory approach has worked, or is paying any sort of dividends? my own feeling is that trying to reason with the mullahs is akin to trying to appease hitler: sooner or later you're going to have to send in the 3rd army and kick their asses.
Whatever one thinks about Obama's Iran policy (stuxnet?), it's probably better than the Rice-Cheney-Bush approach of "Hey let's spend a trillion dollars to empower Iran by giving them a satellite state and then NOT talk to them!"
Natch. For a neo-con chickenhawk all poliitcal differences are like Hitler and can be the justification for a juicy new war.. I'm stil wondering if the kids are going to go to Afghanistan or wherever when 18 or are they second genertion chickenhawks?
Hitler! <div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:309153" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-may-12-2010/back-in-black---glenn-beck-s-nazi-tourette-s">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a></b><br/>Get More: <a href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'>Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href='http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow'>The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p></div></div> Look at a map,where are they gonna blitzkrieg? Yes, you defend the Strait of Hormuz, that's why we are in Bahrain and Kuwait. Bomb Israel? M.A.D.has worked for the last 50 years. If you give the youth of Iran 10 years they will be as free as Egypt and Tunisia. The old men always die off and the kids want to party.
Contract workers from the "right" countries would be notified, evacuated and/or evicted before that happened.
I am no fan of Romney and would hate the thought of him getting the Repub. nomination however the thought of Iran with nukes is TRULY terrifying.
Iran wants nukes for the simple reason that they're afraid of the American threat. They remember what we did to them in the '50s, and know that : We have a nuclear arsenal We have troops stationed in surronding countries (Gulf States, Iraq, Afghanistan) Their buffer between them and Israel (Syria) is collapsing The threat of them going nuclear is their only ace in the deck, it's the only thing they can use to negiotate with the West. That's why their so adamant on building them, and that's why we don't want them to build them.
There are low fallout tactical nukes, there are conventional weapons that could be used to bury the Iranian nuclear labs, you could send in special forces to collapse the labs from the inside. There are options that don't result in a lot of radioactive dirt going all over the place. Of course, all of that presumes that your question was a serious one actually seeking an answer. I doubt that is the case.
Sadly given the belligerence of America and Israel I think it would be best if Iran gets nukes. The US and Israel and the GOP ers woulld have to start getting into diplomacy and stop trying to attack Iran. Now this would not stop them from wanting other wars-- see Africa--,but it would stabiize the Middle East. Israel would have to stop the false myth that they can always solve their problems through military domination.
I don't think people have very clear understanding of the topography of Iran. You couldn't bomb it effectively.
............how the **** would it stabilize the Middle East? It would do the exact opposite, and that's the main reason why Iran can't have nukes, not because they'll somehow attack us or Israel. It's not just Israel and the United States. It's the other Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, who don't like Iran either. If Iran gets nukes, the Saudis will try to get nukes, and a nuclear arms race in the Middle East of all places is literally the worst thing possible.
I'm not sure it's so bad as all that to have a nuclear competition. Give Iran and Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Egypt nukes. Normalize relations. Are they really going to start bombing everybody? I doubt it. They'll threaten to bomb people to stop us from pushing them around, which we should stop doing anyway. I think those countries will democratize (somewhat) in the next couple of decades anyway, and probably faster with a free and friendly relationship with the West.
I'm presuming this is tongue and cheek but I don't think Romney would be that bad. Consider as governor he was fairly moderate and pragmatic and even willing to undertake a major policy change. Granted he is now running against the Governor Romney but if he makes it to the general I suspect that we will see a reemergence of that Romney. All that said I still have no plans for voting for him.
I find this post interesting for its pro-Persian bias. Really? Given Iran's track record there seems to be as much fanaticism among Iranians, and probably more among their leadership, as Arabs in general. As a people maybe they aren't fanatical as Saudis but Saudi Arabia isn't the rest of the Middle East. Where as the Arab countries don't? You might be forgetting these things. This seems like a very shortsighted and limited view of the Arabs, particularly in light of the Arab Spring. Arab states have had progressive leadership and progressive attitudes but due to a variety of things and while things might seem difficult they certainly have the possibility of becoming that way. Tunisian just had relatively free elections. Egypt is still in turmoil and sorting things out but they got rid of Mubarak and they still could get rid of military rule. Libya is too early to say but even in Saudi Arabia they are taking tentative steps towards democracy. I agree with you that the Iranians have potential but as long as they are under Mullah rule I don't see them as being more likely than Arabs to develop a progressive society.
