Iran Crisis

Blacksword wrote: Despite their obvious insanity, Iran does not want to die in a nuclear fire, just as the Russians didn't. A balance of power in the region may actually bring about peace. I may be wrong, but the MAD principle did seem to work for the West and the USSR, wouldn't you say?

Maybe we were just lucky that the cold war didn't escalate into something worse. If too many people get their hands on nuclear weapons then there's always the worry of someone trying to use them. It's like in USA, there are lots of guns but knowing that other people have guns doesn't stop people using them. It's incredibly scary that there might just be some people mad enough to try using nuclear weapons. That is my biggest fear for the world at the moment.

That's not to say that you should just attack everyone who wants to get nuclear weapons though. That's a bit like firing a gun into nest of bees.

What's the answer ... who knows.

Bob Greece wrote: Blacksword wrote: Despite their obvious insanity, Iran does not want to die in a nuclear fire, just as the Russians didn't. A balance of power in the region may actually bring about peace. I may be wrong, but the MAD principle did seem to work for the West and the USSR, wouldn't you say? Maybe we were just lucky that the cold war didn't escalate into something worse. If too many people get their hands on nuclear weapons then there's always the worry of someone trying to use them. It's like in USA, there are lots of guns but knowing that other people have guns doesn't stop people using them. It's incredibly scary that there might just be some people mad enough to try using nuclear weapons. That is my biggest fear for the world at the moment. That's not to say that you should just attack everyone who wants to get nuclear weapons though. That's a bit like firing a gun into nest of bees. What's the answer ... who knows.

Yes, we were lucky during the cold war. It's ironic that I used to be a member of CND and campaign for unilateral nuclear disarament in the 80's. Years later, I have partially succomb to the MAD argument. I would rather the whole world disarm, but no country will, and I dont just mean the US and Israel.

There are people mad enough to use them, given what they believe to be the right excuse. They currently reside in Washington, London, Paris and Tel Aviv. The world would be better if we dont allow Iran to go down the nuclear road, but I think it would have been better if we had not given them a reason to want a bomb in the first place.

This of course assumes that they do have a WMD program. They may not. I'm not going to take the word of the US or UK at face value. The IAEA have so far not confirmed that Iran DO have a program.

Bob Greece wrote: In the news today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4897786.stm The "long war" - the new cold war.

It's all gone rather 'Orwell' hasn't it....

Just as Orwell predicted, we live in a world in a constant state of conflict. Fighting an anonymous enemy we rarely see any evidence of. Because of this conflict it has - apparently - become necessary to curtail certain liberties. Our streets bristle with security cameras, there's talk of ID cards. To voice certain opinions in public is now a crime. Spin and 'double speak' has become the norm in politics, and despite huge advances in science and technology, despite our belief that we are more advanced than ever before, still half the world starves starves to death.

Our leaders like us to have something to fear. It used to be communists now its Muslims, because of course before 9/11 there were no disenchanted Muslims and the terror threat never existed until then. Incorrect! Buts thats how it feels for most of the 'proles' dribble fed little drops of half truth from their crooked media. There is a deliberate move afoot to incite racial hatred and conflict by our leaders. We need an enemy, and they are relying on our stupidity and our obsession with the media to swallow all their gobsh!te and lies.

I'm new here and here's my two penneth........

I'm from the UK and Tony Blair has just announced that nuclear power for electricity purposes is still on the agenda.  That makes me embarassed that we should be telling another country not to develop it.

With regards to nuclear weapons, we have them.  Once again, how can we tell someone not to develop them when we have them. It's like telling someone not to smoke whilst lighting up.

Also, Iran has the USA occupying countries to the left and right of it so it's no wonder they feel threatened.

And why the hell didn't we (and the USA) use this sort of 'diplomacy' when India and Pakistan were developing nukes and on the brink of war?  No oil, perhaps?

This whole episode stinks.  Like Iraq.