Will Nukes save Iran?
While the insurgents dominate the headlines with suicide bombers, car bombs, and IEDs, an equally hopeful President George W. Bush is winning the war of ideas. He has been hotly ctisized, especially after his Axis of Evil speech of January 2002, which was strangely reminiscent of Reagan’s speech 20 years earlier, both in its truthfulness and the amount of sarcasm it has received. By challenging the tyrants and terrorists to mend their ways, or face the wrath of the people, he has placed their backward ideology on notice.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad and other demagogues may shore up their defenses, expand their nuclear arsenals, and seal their borders, yet the truth will always filter through. While they console themselves in the strength of their suicidal converts, and with the sympathy of Western elites, the very extremeness of their constant rhetoric reveals an increasing dread that their time is short.
"Nukes won't save Iran" (12/11/2006)
As the world watches Iran, hosting a conference denying the Holocaust, while Iranian students protest against their President, one does have to wonder if the hand of the tyrants is a strong one, or a weak and desperate one ...
Look back to the days of the Committee for Public Safety duringhte French Revlolution. As rioting grew in the streets, a young Corsican artillery officer was commanded to protect the leaders of the revolution from the howling mobs. Bonaparte did so in a way that makes Tianamen square look like a shoplifitng bust. All was quiet for a week or so, then the crowds rose up again in revolt. Recognizing the opportunity, Bonaparte's siding with the masses led eventually to his elevation to Emperor.
The professionals in Iran's armed forces aren't all in lock step with the ayatollahs, an opening for the cultivation of another Bonaparte is probably being exploited...
i think people in iran are keenly aware of the high price of entanglement with other nations, especially given their many domestic problems, and are wanting to take a step back.
their efforts to punish the US via hostages, by the cutoff in US military aid, made their war with iraq far longer and more costly than it might have otherwise been. other actions, including the rushdie episode, bashing of israel and their support for terror organizations has further ostracized them from the west.
i'm sure many people there see moderation as a new course well worth trying, and the present rhetoric as able to accomplish very little, if anything.
moderation and reform efforts, such as we've seen in afghanistan, egypt, iraq, and lebanon, may also be having an effect.
these recent elections may suggest that the radicals may have had their day, but we'll have to stay tuned and see where this leads.
Fuck the middle east
There's too many problems
They just get in the way
We sure could live without them
They hijack our planes
They raise our oil prices
We'll kill them all and have a ball
And end their fuckin' crisis
BEIRUT, LEBANON-Won't exist once we're done
LIBYA, IRAN-We'll flush the bastards down the can
SYRIANS and SHIITES-Crush their faces with our might
Then Israel and Egypt can live in peace without these dicks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormtroopers_of_Death
Just when they no longer have Americans or Israelis to shoot at or blow up, Kurds, Sunni, Shia, Bahai will again be in gunsights of conflict.
Odd that we haven't heard Kofi Anon(sic) or Jimmy Carter coming down on Tehran for their crusades against the Bahai in Iran or Sadam for his nerve gassing the Kurds in northern Iraq. I'll guess that they aren't as photogenic as Darfur for Geroge Clooney, nor is it politically correct for Clooney to admit that Al Queda's influence is in part responsible for his cause celebre
A socialist will not critisize a socialist.