[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=Arraya]Appeasement is for pussies. Real men preemptively strike…[/quote]
Arraya: Strike what? I know you were joking, but have you seen how the North has laid out their weapons factories and the power stations supplying those factories and the various NK bases? It’s pretty frickin’ smart: Nearly all of the power stations in the North are small- to mid-size facilities and widely dispersed throughout the country. You’d have to launch an assload of airstrikes and you’d lose a lot of planes taking out their infrastructure and command & control network.
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NK, is something I really have not wrapped my head around. The complexities of the desert death cult dance and the delicate interlinking of energy and money in the ME is enough for my brain to handle.
As a humanist I deplore theocracies and nuclear weapons and together they are even more horrific.
However, It may seem odd to us, but Ahmadinejad is not an extremist by Iranian standards. He’s a moderate, who believes in modern science and technology as well as the old religion. He doesn’t like Israel – but that is hardly unusual for the region. Israel-bashing is politicians’ bread and butter in the Middle East.
No matter who was elected, we would have reached this point. One, Iran really does want nuclear energy. They have struggled to meet their OPEC quota for awhile now, and are painfully aware that their oil will not last forever. They want to prepare for the future (not to mention sell as much oil and gas as possible) Two, I’m pretty sure they want nuclear weapons even though it’s all speculation at this point but really how can you blame them after what happened to Iraq. Basically, they know it does not matter if they have weapons or not they will get blamed for it. Interestingly, the information coming out of the pentagon regarding their capabilities and intent is very conflicting. One day there will be a general indicating they are on the verge of having nukes the next week a report will leak that says they have no intention and a million years away capability wise. There is obviously infighting on the issue that goes beyond the president and has been going on since 06. Now, being on top of the 3rd or 4th biggest energy reserves makes them a target by default and the way they see it, nuclear weapons are probably their only chance for sovereignty. They know they would become an ash try if they ever used them.
We are discussing tipping points earlier and an attack on Iran could easily be a catalyst for WWIII given their strategic alliances.
I’m not sure if Obama’s distancing himself from Israel is more of a nudge-nudge, wink-wink kind of thing because it would limit Iran’s response on the world stage or it is genuinely how the hard-right paints him as being anti-Israel.
Either way, this fall should be the grand finale of the final play for the west and the fate of civilization as we know it. An attack on Iran would put us in a whole new world. I personally would not like to see it.
