[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: We will bury you..

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
We will bury you..
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1195672186.shtml


   Discussing [1]Iran's nuclear threat at Dean's World, Aziz P. says:

     ...the simple truth is that a nuclear Iran is far less a threat to
     Israel's existence, let alone ours, than the Soviets were during
     the Cold War. And recall the rhetoric of that age:

     At some point amidst the amiability and the inability to reach
     every agreement, Khrushchev broke out in one of his flights of
     rocket rhetoric. "Technicians make me laugh," he said, "when they
     argue over the question of whether five or maybe six rockets armed
     with thermonuclear warheads might be needed to demolish Great
     Britain. We have at least twelve already pointed at that target."
     And then, looking at his guest, Khrushchev remarked that Italy,
     with its allied missile bases, could expect its share. "This is not
     a threat," he added with a straight face, "just a warning."

     Deter that! oh wait, we did. We buried them.

   Aziz is right. A nuclear Iran isn't as much of a threat as the Soviets
   were during the Cold War.

   Khrushchev's 'warning' was issued in 1961, about a year before the
   Cuban Missile crisis and Kennedy's 'make my day' response made the
   Russians blink. Those were the good old days, when US leadership was
   willing to accept the risks that went along with a nuclear arsenal.

   Things are different now. Now, our leadership freaks out whenever some
   little dictator jumps up and says "I want nukes and I hate America".
   Sometimes we give the dictators bribes (Libya), sometimes we wage war
   against them (Iraq) but in both cases, we panic when confronted with
   the threat of WMDs. Panic is the worst response.

   Now, our problems are still with the Russians. Iran couldn't build
   anything without their help. The Russians have observed how panicky we
   are and they're taking advantage of it. They want to see what kind of
   idiotic response they can provoke. If we start another
   economy-draining war against Iran, Putin wins. If we 'talk' to Iran
   and offer them pointless bribes, we look weak and Putin wins.
   Ahmadinejad does too. So does the next proto-nuke-armed little
   dictator.

   If we followed Kennedy's example, if we just acknowledged that Iran is
   weak and not worth our time, and if we directly confronted Russia, we
   would win. But we won't do that, because we're not willing to accept
   the risks that we accepted during the early days of the nuclear age.
   Yes, we're gambling with billions of lives. In the age of nuclear
   armaments, we gamble with billions of lives every day. It's about time
   we remembered how to win.

References

   1. http://deanesmay.com/posts/1195621840.shtml