The elected president of Iran said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. You think a wacko like that should be in charge of nuclear weapons? Letting Iran develop nukes is signing a death warrant for Israel.
RE: nuclear weapons i just think its odd for the US to impose sanctions on countries like iran, north korea, and libya for attempting to develop nuclear weapons while doing absolutely nothing to the country that has supplied the technology and designs needed to produce those weapons.
FD Khan; I agree with a lot of what you say and I've been thinking this way for awhile. I still wouldn't want to do away with the idea of economic sanctions altogether. The argument you make is one driven by rationalism and I unfortunately not everyone acts rationally. While there are many situations where economic sanctions don't work there are situations where they do. or instance in South Africa where the threats of disinvestment did help bring them around. It really depends on the situation. We can trade with regimes and still have them behave in a way that threatens our interests for instance Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. So while rationally it makes sense that opening a country up with trade will lead to change it doesn't guarentee it. I agree that sanctions are cold and heartless and affect the average person more than the leadership but part of the goals of sanctions is to get the average person miserable enough that they will rise up against their government. While we didn't have sanctions on the Soviet Union it was primarily the failure of their economic system that led to the overthrow. Whereas in the PRC dissent is muted because the CCP has shown material benefits to the average Chinese. This is a more difficult question and one that again is dependent on people to be rational. Countries don't always behave rationally and vitriolic ethnic / nationalistic hatred isn't that rational to begin with. Its too much of a gamble to presume that every country should have nukes and that they will only use them in self defense. Where counting on that nothing crazy happens with their leadership and also that they even have the technology and control to make sure there isn't an accidental launch that sets off the whole worldwide nuke powderkeg.
interestingly his parliament can't stand him either. they rejected three choices for oil minister he nominated. rafsanjani holds termendous clout in irani politics.
A major difference which is impossible to ignore. Isarel does not have wackos running it. They've had nukes for decades, and everyone knows that they will only be used if their nation's existence is threatened. They have neighbors which have repeatedly (verbally) challenged it's right to exist. The difference is defense vs. offense. It's a simple concept. As for the Iranian people, I wish there were better alternatives to economic sanctions, but the US should not be running around overthrowing governments. The locals need to, and I would be shocked if anyone believed that Iranian people could not accomplish that if they wished.
actually one thing he has said is something that has always confused me. when the jews were being exterminated, they were refused from every damn country in the world... and instead of them being given a part of the country where they were screwed with(germany) ala pakistan and india, they were sent to a 3rd country that had nothing to do with the situation at hand. it was a pathetic attempt to get the problem away from the area. And this guy has a legit question, but that question is neither here nor there. especially since its practically impossible to do what he is asking(moving israel to germany and austria), and also because it is in the past, he should be looking at a way to get a self goverened palestinian state, not the eradication of another people.
Speaking of selective memory, why do these sanctions exist? History seems to indicate this is a result of the Iranian people storming an American embassy and taking American hostages, some of which were beaten and tortured. I suppose the options for the US at that point are military action, sanctions, or your plan which would have been what exactly? This is the same Iran that not long after the hostage crisis was responsible for the Beirut bombing which killed over 200 Marines. Perhaps Carter or Reagan should have picked military action, then we wouldn't have Iran on the verge of threatening the whole region with nuclear weapons.
US soldiers tortured and abused iraqi prisoners. Does that make it for for the rest of the world to stop trading with us and place all sorts of sanctions on the country?
Well, there's not much one country can do when it disaproves of another countries actions. You can impose sanctions (which never work - ask Castro) or you can go to war. Clearly no one on this board wants to go to war so all you can really do is refuse to do business with them. How about blaming the poor state of Iran's air fleet on Iranian leaders? They don't have to have sanctions if they would just play nice with the rest of the world. For whatever reason they choose to be stubborn. When we had sanctions against Iraq people kept blaming the U.S. Why didn't they hold Saddam to blame?
The world is welcome to place sanctions against the U.S. There's nothing stopping them. Oh wait... What's stopping them is the enormous amounts of money they make selling things to American consumers. If the world doesn't like the way we behave then the world can place sanctions against us. Japan recently had sanctions against U.S. beef (because of mad cow).
And you can't read very well... I simply pointed out that the rest of the world had the right to place sanctions on the U.S. If they want to they can. Never said they'd do it or it was a good idea... Actually I never stated anywhere an opinion of placing sanctions on the U.S., just that people could. Where does "short sighted" come into play?
And the Previous american goverments were all angels?.. the united states has a very rosey past.i guess veryone who is Anti-american plocies is deluded and is brainwashed. take off the rose cloured glasses. america is'nt this innocent and peace loving state you claim.
"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?" he said. "If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it." http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/08/iran.israel.reut/index.html This is worth posting on the board, instead of just giving the link. (thanks for that!) This man is delusional, and quite possibly psychotic. There is absolutely no doubt, whatsoever, that the Holocaust occured. An older cousin of my wife took us to the site of a concentration camp in the Netherlands where he was incarcerated for much of the war, because he was caught trying to escape to Switzerland. (some people value freedom so much that they will take incredible risks to get it, something we should remember) He said that every day he was there, Jews were lined up and shot. He took us to the embankment, still there in what was obviously new-growth forest (you would have to know where this place was... we would never have found it, otherwise). A guard tower was still standing, the only one they left, as a reminder. They lined them up and executed them. Every bloody day. The prisoners were forced to dispose of the bodies. This is in the Netherlands, not a place one would associate with the Holocaust, but associated it was. This man sickens me. How the poor people of Iran have come to this pass is tragic, and the United States bears a lot of the responsibilty for it's support of the Shah. We may have to wait until Hell freezes over to see these maniacs throw out of power, something the majoriy of Iranians would dearly love to see. The world may not be able to wait that long. Keep D&D Civil.
You've watched so much fox and pro - Isreal news outlets, that you've become deluded. It's all words. he is trying to use a bargining chip against isreals nucelear arsenal. behind the secens, isreal and iran have contacts hrough the Swiss embassy situated in both countries.
