Simplicio
In retrospect, I was being far too harsh.
I apologize.
You know, the USSR was a nation and ideology that was a far greater nightmare than Iran could ever hope to be. Despite all the horrific behavior they never nuked anyone. MAD is a policy that keeps countries from destroying themselves with nukes. Only the United States has every nuked anyone and that’s because nobody in the world could nuke us back. There is 60 years history of living with this kind of policy, allies of both Israel and Iran know how to adapt to it. Israel isn’t going anywhere.
Holy shit, almost everyone is against them? You really lap up the propaganda don’t you.
Big difference. The USSR was secular. As bad as they were, at least they didn’t think they would all be sent to heaven if they died fighting the enemy. Religious fervor is infinitely more dangerous than mere political ideology; on that, I agree with Der Trihs. All the Russians had to motivate them was a system of economics, Communism, one that most of them probably didn’t even understand to begin with. Iran has God. Huge, huge difference.
The US is a gigantic country bordered by two oceans and two allied countries. Israel is smaller than New Jersey and it is situated right in the middle of a vast field of enemies (most of them hundreds of times larger - and with vast oil reserves, to boot.)
No, Israel’s existence over the long term is simply not feasible. Face reality, people.
You’re demanding a “cite” for the fact that the Shah backed Hitler and was overthrown by the British during WWII.:dubious:
This is truly one of the most moronic arguments I’ve ever heard.
Because something isn’t mention in a wikipedia article it must be false?
Moreover, wikipedia is an absolutely horrible resource to use for anything related to the Middle East.
I take it back. This was an even more moronic statement.
Fouad Kazem is an Iranian journalist and academic who, amongst other things, writes for Iranian.com, an Iranian-American online journal.
Moreover, this is a statement coming from someone who actually thinks wikipedia a reliable source.
Tell me, since you so seem to think you know so much about the country I was born in and my father is from, when was the last time you visited Iran, how good is your Farsi, how many books on Iran have you read, how many Iranians have you talked to and do you know.
I assume you’re more than just some American who knows nothing of Iran but skimmed an article in wikipedia on it and thinks you’re an expert.
I’d certainly hope you have a lot more than that if you’re going to insist that Fouad Kazem “has no credibility”.
the israelis don’t have to pretend they’re waging a righteous air strike. bomb if they can.
FWIW, I don’t think that the government of Iran would either give nukes to terrorists to commit genocide against Israel or launch a nuclear attack against them.
However, I can understand why Israelis would be terrified as would most of Iran’s neighbors.
That said, we’re not going to see a replay of Osirak and we’re better off using a carrot and stick approach to getting Iran to steer their nuclear capability towards domestic use rather than the building of weapons.
and why can’t iran have nukes when israel does?
Agreed.
It’s absolutely outrageous and disgusting that the US worked to prevent Germany from getting nukes in WWII.
If the USA could have them then why couldn’t Germany!?
Also, what country is “iran” and what country is “israel”?
There are other ways to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat. The Stuxnet worm is theorized to have severely affected Iranian nuclear centrifuges, rendering 25% of them inoperable (and possibly wasting a significant amount of time and energy producing worthless product before the defects were noticed).
(More info at cnet, which seems less sensationalized.)
Because they will destroy the Middle East/Israel the moment they have them. God, dont you remember the Pakistan/India nuclear exchange as soon as Pakistan got its Bomb?
I really hope you’re not chastising macbolan for his spelling:
strange terms and even stranger assumptions you’re using here. pakistan is just as volatile as iran and (in the eyes of the americans) more devious having allowed osama the great to lounge in comfort there for so long.
last time i checked, there hasn’t been any bombs detonated between india and west pakistan.
Kind of my point, ain’t it?
Pakistan and India have been trading insults and threats for decades, engaged in open and covert conflict and yet, when they both got the Bomb, none of them turned it into a nuclear conflict.
ETA: West Pakistan. what, you’re calling Bangladesh, Pakistan East?
btw, failing to capitalise is not a misspell. 
Eh? I don’t know about the rest of the world, but South African Jews are in no danger of being assimilated away. Doesn’t really look to me like US Jews are doing so badly either.
A nuclear armed Iran is mainly a threat against Saudi Arabia and other neighboring states. Why should Israel (or even the USA) do their dirty work? Let the Saudis deal with it.
Yep, I am. I did some quick research after you failed to support your contentions earlier, and in my reading I didn’t find any mention of the things you claimed.
No, your retort here is one of the most moronic things I’ve ever heard. I didn’t make the claim that it was false, only that your claim has no support that I found.
Ah, but un-researched articles by people I’ve never heard of using no citations of their own, like the cite you finally gave, is not an absolutely horrible resource; got it.
So he writes for the place you linked to, and those are his credentials: that he writes for that website. Okay…
Well, when it’s got proper citations and links in the article, yes, I do think it’s a better source than “uncredited opinions and inferences written by a guy who writes things”.
When did I claim to “know so much” about Iran? Could you please cite where I said that, or implied it?
Could you cite where I said anything even remotely like I think I’m an expert on Iran?
Could you also cite where I insisted that the Fouad Kazem ‘“has no credibility”’? The fact is, to me he’s a complete unknown and you did very little (perhaps “nothing” would be a more apt term) to bolster your claims by citing only one thing, and from an author unknown to the VAST majority of people in the US. If the claims you made were such common knowledge, it shouldn’t have been hard for you to find a number of fact-checked sources to show it (but you didn’t do that).
You’re posts are really quite hostile. You seem to take offense at even the slightest criticism or request for you to back up anything you write.
I didn’t say it was. But you didn’t answer my question and explain why it is fair. If Israel (or any other country) bombs states which are only developing the very same weaponry they already possess, then they deserve all of retaliation they receive. Can China bomb the US because it doesn’t like our Los Alamos R&D?
Israeli’s underlying unilateral rights that your neighbors don’t enjoy is what promotes the terrorism and suicide bombing Israel would so much like to escape. This moral superiority leads to situations where the rest of the world (outside of America and important constituencies like Micronesia, Hauru, Palau, and the Marshall Islands)* unanimously disagree with your position.
*See the numbers UN resolutions on Vote on Peaceful Settlement
The Iranians have also been preparing for years for the possibility of an Osirak-style bombing, and they have the home advantage.
Of course he never said any such thing.
Wasn’t Susa capital of the Mades rather than the Persians? Operation Persepolis, more like.