Believe it or not, there are some potential benefits to the United States should Iran build a bomb. (I’m speaking for myself here, and in no way for the Air Force.) Five possibilities come to mind.
First, Iran’s development of nuclear weapons would give the United States an opportunity to finally defeat violent Sunni-Arab terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Here’s why: a nuclear Iran is primarily a threat to its neighbors, not the United States. Thus Washington could offer regional security — primarily, a Middle East nuclear umbrella — in exchange for economic, political and social reforms in the autocratic Arab regimes responsible for breeding the discontent that led to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Until now, the Middle East autocracies have refused to change their ways because they were protected by the wealth of their petroleum reserves. A nuclear Iran alters the regional dynamic significantly, and provides some leverage for us to demand reforms.
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What about the downside — that an unstable, anti-American regime would be able to start a nuclear war? Actually, that’s less of a risk than most people think. Unless the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, and his Guardian Council chart a course that no other nuclear power has ever taken, Iran should become more responsible once it acquires nuclear weapons rather than less. The 50-year standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States was called the cold war thanks to the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons.
RTFA. Its an interesting angle. I’m not so sure a ‘renaissance of American influence in the Middle East’ is all that beneficial though. America should just get out of the region IMHO.
That’s what I’m talk’n about!
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#20-thingsthatmakemego-We are getting what we voted for…a dismantling of the US empire… In a sad way that’s good…
You may have voted for the destruction of freedom, but many did not. Why you think slavery over freedom is a good thing speaks volumes of what goes on in your head.
Your answer is to give up and let it all happen… what a number the socialist have done on you.
Lost.
I didn’t vote for the guy ( I was speaking metaphorically)…but America did.
It doesn’t make me happy, as I said. You might want to read the whole post slowly. Personally I’d rather go back to the 50′s when we ruled the roost, but that’s not going to happen. The country I grew up in and loved (and it sounds like you did too) is gone…which you are unable to face. I’m not unwilling to face the truth and accept that a retreat on our terms is better than what happened to England and France…a long period of humiliation as client after client pulled away. Better to rip the bandage away at once, and get it over with, and not bleed yourself dry trying to hang onto a long-gone world.
I’ll say it clearly: The decline of the US is bad, bad, bad, as the world is about to discover, but the US is no longer culturally capable of recovery. We’ve slipped too far.
You and I actually agree on everything except the prognosis. I say it’s terminal, you say it’s not. I refuse to waste my energy on a nation that no longer even understands its founding ideals, much less is willing to fight for them. If you want to stay and fight, I’ll raise a toast to you, but I will not throw away my chldren’s future in a futile exercise. Every empire ends.
Simple rule. If you release a weapon in anger, we’ll retaliate ten fold, destroying your society. It’s called hardball. There’s no rules in weapons of mass destruction.
#23-thingsthatmakemego
In the early days just before America became a nation there were naysayers that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into freedom.
Nothing has changed.
The future is what you make of it. To give up without a fight or even worse because things look bad at the moment is unforgivable.
I usually don’t read people wrong – it’s a gift and a curse – hopefully this is one time I am wrong.
I think nukes are the modern Colt 45, which was called “the great equalizer”. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt%27s_Manufacturing_Company
One of the first truly modern-style handguns, the Colt revolvers became known as “The Great Equalizer”, because they could be loaded and fired by anyone, whereas most previous guns had required sufficient strength and dexterity. In theory, anyone who had a modern-style revolver was equal to anyone else, regardless of their relative physical abilities.
Now anyone with a nuke is the equal to any great power. That’s why everyone wants one.
All of our aircraft carriers, planes, tanks, and guns won’t help us if someone decides to sail a ship with a nuke on it into New York harbor and detonate it.
We can’t push everyone else in the world around any more. We’ve been equalized.
#25 Doddger, what you don’t realize is that we can still have our freedom without ruling the world. You don’t want freedom, you want to be a bully. You’re probably an insecure little twerp who gets off on chanting “USA! USA!”
In case you didn’t notice, our wars have bankrupted us, just like Osama bin Laden wanted. Our idiotic leaders played right into his hands. And now you wingnuts are clamoring for more war, in Iran and Yemen. How does it feel to be doing Osama’s work for him?
#27-Phydeau
As usual most of your assessments are delusional, but I did find one rare truth and that is “Our idiotic leaders played into his hands.”
How can I disagree with that?
#28 Great, then you think we should withdraw our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP, right? And you’re against war on Iran and Yemen, right? Glad to see you’re coming around to the liberal point of view.
#4 and #1 Why wouldn’t MAD work in the middle east? If Hamas or Hezbollah lobs a nuke into Israel, and it is common knowledge they are backed by a nuclear armed Iran, wouldn’t they lob a nuke into Iran? I’m no foreign relations expert, but that only makes common sense to me. And if it is already common knowledge that North Korea has nukes and does trade in the black market with them, why hasn’t your little attack on any US city with a container ship theory happened yet? Zero US armed forces would’ve died from Iran manufactured armor piercing artillery if US armed forces weren’t fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, in the first place. And I wonder, how many Iranians have died from US manufactured artillery…
#3 Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the US, followed by Mexico. After Saudi Arabia, it is Venezuela, then Nigeria. If we walk out of the middle east, why wouldn’t the middle east feel a bigger pinch? We consume more oil than anyone else in the world. Don’t they need our business more than we need their supply?
#16 Iran has more to fear than Israel. If they nuke Israel, they will get obliterated by the entire world. If Israel nukes Iran, (and they would do no such thing without permission from the US), there will be enough propaganda from the US and other Israeli allies to protect Israel. So Iran has that fear to deal with on top of its regional threats.
#27 Amen and Amen. The wars not only have bankrupted and put the US into ridiculous debt, they’ve also created an incalculable increase of new enemies. All this “fighting for our freedom” is what’s causing the US to be indebted to the Chinese, while China just sits back and laughs all the way to the bank. China’s not this great nation thingsthatmakemego fears, it will fall just like the soviets did because slavery of any kind cannot yield prosperity in the end. But at least China is smart enough to not expend itself the way the US is.
#29-Phydeau
Our so-called leaders are more worried about image than winning, and have for some time. Until the goal is to win a war then foreign wars are only a fulfillment of a politicians power fantasy.
At this point the only thing to withdraw are the politicians who believe they are in office to be served instead of to serve.
That should take out quite a few and eliminate the cause of many existing and future problems.
#31 Our so-called leaders are fighting unwinnable wars, plain and simple. You’d think they would have learned from Vietnam.
But then maybe they’re not fighting for the reasons we think. The big war contractors have gotten very rich.
#32 Exactly, which is why #31 will never happen. Politicians aren’t in office to serve the people. They are in office to serve the special interests. They only worry about their image when it’s time to vote, which is every 2, 4 or 6 years. So they make big speeches, and distract people like Dodd & thingsthatmakemego with rhetoric so they can get votes. Once the election is over, they fulfill their promises to the special interests who funded their campaigns with never ending wars that fund no bid contracts to the special interests.
An Iran that is a nuclear ENERGY superpower would really alter the balance of things in the middle east. Just because they won’t kiss Israel’s ass is no reason they should be OUR enemy. They just want to sit at the grownups table.
Pakistan & India don’t get along and are both in the nuclear club. They haven’t bombed each other yet.
@BmoreBadBoy Oil doesn’t work that way, it’s a market, when you have a shortage the price shoots up and tanks the nation and economy. So the middle east is important in that they’re the only area in that world that can still significantly increase production to allow for economic growth.
Without the middle east America certainly will decline.
I’ve heard it said that starting a nuclear war is like shooting someone with a pistol while simultaneously shooting yourself in the head, and if you don’t do the latter you might wish you had (whether there’s a heaven to go to afterwards or not).
Sometimes I wonder if the people who would build Iran’s nukes and deploy them don’t secretly know this, regardless of what their religious bosses think.
fuck oil already.