http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBu...20060417c.html

Things like this are why I consider the U.N. useless except for humanitarian aid.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Iran has no nuclear weapons, as of right now, is not capable of building nuclear weapons, and has said many times it has no intention of building nuclear weapons. What's the problem?

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Love causes fear.
Love causes sorrow.
Those without love have neither sorrow nor fear.

Yet.

... And you take Iran's word for it? Are you serious?

The problem could have something to do with the fact that a nation that arms terrorists and is run by Islamist maniacs (who want to destroy Israel) is not very far from having nuclear weapons.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Well, I admit that my knowledge of Iranian politics is lacking, so maybe my ignorance is clouding my judgment. So tell me, why shouldn't we trust them? Have they lied to us in the past?

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Love causes fear.
Love causes sorrow.
Those without love have neither sorrow nor fear.

Iran lied to us very recently:

http://www.politicalforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=16030

Moreover, with its great amount of oil (the second most in the world), Iran has no need for nuclear energy. The only possible reason it has a nuclear program is to build nuclear weapons.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

I think it is illuminating to look at the motivations for Iran's development of enrichment. They claim that they want to develop enrichment capabilities for fuel production not weapons, but that just does not add up. For fuel production to be economically worth the venture, you must have around 20 reactors at the end of the supply line. Iran's development flow is backwards. They have no reactors and yet they claim that they want to produce fuel first. Why? Because they are intent on building weapons. Iran is using the NPT like a game right now for this reason: Once a country signs the NPT, it gets technology sharing, but once it is ratified, it gets much more robust inspections. Guess who has signed but not ratified? The idea behind that is that they get the technology, then withdraw from the treaty. The reason they are playing this game I believe has to do with a clash of strategic imperatives between the US and Iran. The US has made a policy decision that Iran having nuclear weapons is unacceptable. Iran has made a policy decision that the only way to deter the US from attack is to build nuclear weapons. I think the US contention makes way more sense. The main problem with Iran attaining nuclear weapons is the destabilizing effect it has on the region, not the threat that Israel or the US will be attacked with them. What does Saudi Arabia do? What does Turkey do? What does Egypt do? The unresolved disputes of the region, ranging from ethnic to religious, to political, to territorial have the potential for catastrophic escalation.
We should do what we have avioded: Bilateral talks with Iran. This country has lacked a cogent policy toward Iran for a long time. Clinton basically did nothing, Bush came to office wanting to employ a new strategy. Bush's policies do not eliminate weapons through treaties, but eliminate regimes through direct action. Unfortunately for the moment, that policy has paralyzed us with Iran because of how Iraq has gone. We should consider settling this problem of opposing strategic imperatives through diplomacy instead. We should offer Iran the same security guarantees we used with Libya and Khadafi, and with N. Korea. Libya's nuclear program still exists, but it is in Oakridge Tenessee now-- no lives lost, basically no cost, non-proliferation intact.
It will be a tough pill to swallow unfortunately because this administration is surely looking at the past history of Iran and doesn't want to make the same mistake for the 3rd time-- that of supporting an unpopular regime in Iran against the will of the people. However, for the moment, this is our best option. The thing to remember is that the people of Iran are our best friends in the region, that lasts only until the first one dies due to a misguided bomb with our flag on it. After that comes the riptide of nationalism, and in my opinion, the end of any remnant of stability between the US and the region.

spends nearly half (47 percent) of the total world military spending, is pushing to develop new nuclear weapon and is the most active militarily on earth. We have killed more people than any other state in the last five years.

We dont have much basis to comment on other nations foreign policy. At the last nuclear disarmament conference we made it clear we had no interest in nuclear disarmament, we have around 10,000 nuclear warheads now.

That is true if you believe in moral equivilence. Most of us do not. Iran and other non-democracies are not as trustworthy as democracies are. Democracies ARE more trustworthy. Thats why no one has a problem with democracies having nukes.

Iran has openly made threats against Israel already, and has shown an interesting in developing weapons. It has actually gone out of it's way to parade this interest in front of the rest of the world.

Your moral equivilency is not shared by most Americans.

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My Political Blog (Updated Oct 3rd) - Which Flame Warrior are you?

I don't think we would worry so much about Iran enriching if their theocratic nutjobs were overthrown and the underlying secular democracy was allowed to take control. The question is one of how we can convey this message to the people of Iran...

It almost seems as though the UN is trying to be funny. Next we'll see Sudan put on a committee for human rights.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside