Iran continues to "thumb it's nose"...
 

http://www.reuters.com/article/world...84321820080408

Good enough for Saddam, good enough for Mahmoud, eh?

Israel complaining about nuclear weapons and non-transparency. Right.

Nukes for every country. but everyone only gets one.

Not exactly! As Bill Cabet from The Sum of All Fears said, "I'm not worried about the guy with 27,000 nukes. Its the guy with one I'm worried about". The nuclear club should remain very small, otherwise your just asking for a whole lot of hurt! I personally would REALLY not like the likes of Lybia etc getting nukes!

You're probably right, I'm airing out some of my wilder global scenarios :P

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080407...y_080407131655

Wipe them off the map, eh?

Constructive!

Yeah, that guy is almost begging for a war with Israel. Its people like him that start wars! :nope:

Its like this. You see two men in a street with guns one is just standing there and one is waving his arms in the air yelling all sorts of wierd things like death to that other guy etc etc. The guy waving and yelling would make me very nervous and I don't think he should have a gun. Because one has a gun doesn't mean the other should. Fair is fair doesn't work in the real world.

From the linked article, quoting an Israeli government minister - "An Iranian attack against Israel would trigger a tough reaction that would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation,"

I mentioned the "wite off map" incident because it highlights an interesting corollary. Many Iranians have said that Ahmedinijad never made such a statement, that the coverage was working off of a mistranslation. Yet it becomes part of the Iranian-Wetern discourse somehow. Like push polling, in a way.

Ahmedinijad is still worrying, but I doubt there'll be any sort of war. Unhelpful dialogue like the above don't help, though. Willing acceptaance of falsity in order to further selfish agendas don't help either.

I don't think anyone will dare to start a war.

Even through Iran has nuclear arms, Isreal has even more nuclear weapons and possibly a second strike ability. I don't think Iran has any second strike ability, so she dare not press that red trigger, fearing a deadly retaliation.

Finally, Isreal has got some good anti-missiles system, most remarkably MIM-104 Patriot. I don't think Iran wants to see a mutual destruction between her only nuclear missile and a patriot missile

In conclusion, Iran is just showing off and trys to put some pressure on Isreal and her allies. Iran still lacks a ability to massively produce nukes use them well.

Yeh,, I read that Israeli statement too. It doesn't get more direct than that! :o

To quote some lyrics from Jethro Tull: "It's hard to find true equilibrium... When you're staring at each other down the muzzle of a gun." :nope:

And let us not forget, Saddam's (non-existent) WMDs were also an attempt to "show off" and stave off attacks from Iran. His "ruse" was good enough to fool a lot of people too. And what did it get Hussein? An invasion...

So, who's zoomin' who?

http://geimint.blogspot.com/2008/02/...ile-silos.html

It's not an SSBN, to be sure, but it's clearly just a beginning...

PD

Not to mention the US spoiling for a scrap with the Iranians

Let us hope you are right :yep:

DeepIron – Keep in mind that Saddam was working very hard on WMD pre-Gulf One. He used some of them on his own people and against Iran. Those are items of history. Further, there is no doubt, based on IAEA statements, that Iraq under Saddam had been working towards nukes.

As to Ahmadinejad, there are different ways of looking what he has said about Israel, but none of them are anything but provocative and threatening. Keep in mind that Israel has won four wars against the Arab states and those nations continue to exist. Whether or not one is pro-Israel, it is hard to escape the conclusion that had Israel lost just one of them, it would no longer exist. Similarly, if it loses any future confrontation, Israel’s continued existence is unlikely.

Israel has had the bomb for decades and has never used it. How long would it be if Hamas or some other similar group obtained one would it be before Israel lost a city? Given the volatility of Arab politics and relations, there’s at least a fair chance that one or more devices would be handed around.

The Israelis have certainly not behaved overly well, but in context, they have some very good reasons to be concerned.