What has this world come to? :-)

(No, I won’t let him live that down, ever.)

This sums it up.

“Although the mullahs are not as stubborn as North Korean leader Kim Jong Il continues to be—they would not knowingly allow three million fellow citizens to die of starvation just to preserve their nuclear program—they unquestionably are willing to tolerate considerable hardship to keep their nuclear hopes alive.”

How do we know they aren’t as crazy? N. Korea wouldn’t have had near the resources to devote to bomb building if it weren’t for the 1990’s world aid. It would still be a big gamble with Iran as we might just help enable them to speed a covert N. Korean type operation under the noses of any framework.

But I don’t see any better alternatives to Ray Takeyh’s plan. If you have to gamble, might as well gamble betting on human good.

I think it is nearly inevitable that Iran will become a nuclear power. What we should aim for then is graceful accommodation of that, combined with reducing the harm of it as much as possible.

I think the time is ripe for a Grand Deal.

Iran gets a blind eye turned to its nuclear ambitions and the US restores normal diplomatic and economic relations with it.

Iran must drop its support for Hezbullah and other terrorist groups and become a constructive partner in a two-state solution in the IP conflict.

Iran gets a blind eye turned to its nuclear ambitions and the US restores normal diplomatic and economic relations with it.

Iran must drop its support for Hezbullah and other terrorist groups and become a constructive partner in a two-state solution in the IP conflict.”

Why in the world would Iran do this? They can easily get all of the above without dropping its support for terrorist groups or becoming a constructive party in the Israel conflict.

You have already concluded they are going to be a nuclear power. Europe has signalled its disinterest in long term sanctions, hell they want to engage in high-tech military trade with China, what are we bargaining with? Under this scheme they have almost no incentive to do anything but pursue nuclear power, continue supporting terrorism, and continue pretending that nothing is happening.

What do you mean?

Man that line makes me sick. I AM questioning that. It stinks of Muslims-are-less-than-human elitism. Un-freaking-believable.

Now, I would believe that of the ChiComs, for sure, the Great Leap Foward wasn’t that long ago.

In fact, looking at the very, very sorry record of humanity over the last millenium, who really would like to bet against Islam when it comes to humane treatment of, if not their fellow man in general at least their fellow Muslim?

You got the Judeo-Christian West, kicking off an almost constant bloodbath with the Spanish Inquisition and nicely bookending it with the meatgrinders of WWI and WWII, producing Hitler and the Holocaust, Stalin and the Soviet Union. Persuing the middle we find France and England fighting a 100 Years War over what, I still haven’t really figured out, Napolean freezing his soldiers to death in Russia, again for what serious purpose I really can’t ascertain, and the US Civil War, a horror of men dying slowly from Mini-ball and bayonet induced gut-wounds. At least I know why they did that.

Meanwhile turning our History Channel to the Far East we find the Chinese fighting each other to keep a country of people with apparently little in common together (yes, they all look alike to us but they ain’t) culminating with both the aforementioned Mao and a bloody clash with the Japanese. Said Japanese deciding, like a favored David E. Kelley actor, to show up in both Far East and West ensembles by happily becoming a major player in WWII at the same time.

And the Middle East, er…, well they had their tribal spats. But sad suicide bombers and knocking down a couple of really poorly-protected skyscrapers – hell, they’re pretty late to the party I’d say.

Props to Jim Harrison. Did it ever occur to people that, when you look at the evidence, Islam quite likely isn’t so much antagonistic to the West on differences of societial structure but quite logically scared to fucking death of us? You can’t exactly go out to the troops and say “Hey, they gutted everybody else they came across like fish and here they come for us” so you tell them we’re evil and unclean and Allah
will help them overcome us, and even get yourself to believe it on most concious levels.

That would be a pretty human thing to do. Oh, but they’re not really human, sorry. Good thing I don’t have to physically report to a Re-education camp, LGF and Powerline can brainwash me at the flick of a URL.

“Darren, What do you mean?”

Well I won’t venture to speak for Darren, but we are now 60 years after the first nuclear explosion and the technology is no longer a mystery. Everyone knows the basics of how to build a nuclear weapon. Anyone with the capital and sufficient motiviation will get one, sooner or later.