Comments on: Iran: so far away

By: THEOcracy

THEOcracy — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 05:17:27 +0000

And Iran, Iran so far away…

No, no, no…
That’s better.
(If I’m the millionth guy to make a lame Flock of Seagulls reference, do I win concert tickets or something?)
A few thoughts on the Iran broo-ha-ha:
Yes, we know Iran doesn’t need nuclear power. …

By: Tom Hilton

Tom Hilton — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:33:01 +0000

Thanks for the link. Along similar lines, I would recommend John Aravosis’ four-point plan (at AmericaBlog). Besides emphasizing the phony and political nature of the thing, the other points include: Iran is years away from nuclear capability; it makes no sense to deal with this until after the midterms; and in any case, Bush is the wrong person to deal with this issue.

By: Marc Schneider

Marc Schneider — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:55:01 +0000

I agree with your comments about the policy itself, but I’m not so sure it doesn’t make sense to float the idea of an attack out there. Diplomacy and force aren’t diametrically opposed things; they may be two sides of the same coin. It’s pretty clear that ONLY diplomacy is not likely to deter Iran, at the same time that actual military action is probably insane, especially given how far away Iran is from having the bomb. But why not put alittle pshychological pressure on Ahmadjinedad? (I’m finally learning how to spell his name.)
Now, let me make it clear. I don’t trust Bush to do things right. Iraq is a disaster. But getting away from that, it seems to me that Ahmadinejad sees the nuke issue as a way of shoring up his nationalist credentials on an issue that even reform-minded Iranians agree on. And he most likely thinks this is an easy one because he sees the US (correctly) as weakened by Iraq, the West in general divided and vacillating and China and Russia unwilling to do much. So, from his standpoint, this is a low-cost way of showing he has cojones. However, some stuff I have read suggests that the Iranian public supports his antics only as long as they seem to work without risking an actual confrontation with the West. So, it seems to me that the West has to do more than just talk nice to Ahmadinejad. It has to be carrots AND sticks. So I’m not so sure that at least floating rumors of an attack doesn’t make some sense (although an actual attack, at least at this point, would be disastrous). International relations often depends on opacity and I think this is a good example of it. Let’s not simply rule out the military option immediately, if only to give Iran something else to think about.

By: Finn

Finn — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:10:30 +0000

If I want good relations with my neighbor I build a good fence, I don’t send armed people to take over his house and make sure that he does as I wish. Does foreign policy differ because increasing port/border security creates a larger economic burden than invading Iran?