Text 22499, 89 rader
Skriven 2008-10-24 15:21:20 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 22432 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Loyalties
=================
Hello Robert,

On Thursday October 23 2008 19:01, you wrote to me:

 RB>>> Who would attack Iran

 MV>> The US? Israel?

 RB> If the screaming hate tirades and sabre rattling stopped and there
 RB> were some semblence of cooperation with the other countries of the
 RB> area? Not bloody likely.

You are mixing up cause and effect. Both the US and Israel have threatened to
attack Iran many times. And contrary to Iran, they actually have the means to
carry out those threats.

Perhaps the hate tirades and the sabre rattling would stop when Israel and the
US would stop the threats?

 MV>> You know what happens when you corner a cat and threaten it. It
 MV>> will hiss, growl and show fangs and claws.

 RB> Bad analogy.

I think it is an excellent analogy.

 RB> If Iran is cornered, it did a fine job of arranging that itself.
 RB> Nothing but fanaticiam, murder and hatred since 1973, when the
 RB> "great Satan" (Khoumani, who should have been shot when he lived in
 RB> Paris) came home.

You mean after the people of Iran freed themselves from the US suppored
dictatorship of the Sjah and invited Khoumani to become their new leader?

There are two sides to every coin Bob...

 MV>> I disagree, I think they really feel threatened and I think they
 MV>> have good reasons for that.

 RB> Scream and threaten others with mayhem and you don't always get
 RB> understanding smiles, Michiel.

Just as threatening with nuclear arms. It may silence the opponent, but it will
not make friends.

 RB> Some people resent that, and take such things seriously - and take
 RB> precautions to make sure that the screamers and threateners will
 RB> suffer greatly if they ever put their bluster into acion. If you think
 RB> that reprhensible, I'm sure you must be one of the very few to do so.

Unlike you I am not brainwashed by the US propaganda machine. I can look at it
objectiveley without the preconceived notion of who are the good guys and who
are the bad guys. Iran's reasons to want nuclear weapons are just as good or
just as bad as those of Israel. Or maybe better, After all, their enemies
already have them...

 RB>>> I was thinking more about smaller countries threatened by larger
 RB>>> ones. Nukes are also deterrents.

 MV>> And I think that is precisely why countries like Iran en N. Korea
 MV>> may want them.

 RB> Now you're talking about "poor, innocent" countries like Nazi Germany

Try to look at it objectvively. The desire of a country for weapons does not
depend on their enemy's opinion of who is the good and who is the bad.

 RB> in 1938. We were talking about places like Georgia - and of course the
 RB> Baltic countries - who have every reason to be mortally frightened of
 RB> their imperialistic and powerful neighbor, particularly now.

Like Mexico has every reason to be mortally frightened of their imperialistic
and powerful neighbour up north?

 MV>> For that reason Israel should never have been allowed to have them.

 RB> Israel is probably one of the best examples for the need to have nukes
 RB> to protect themselves via the threat of retaliation.

Any more than say Venuzuela?

Try to forget about your preconceived notions of who is the good and who is the
bad and try to look at it from the other side's POV for a change.


Cheers, Michiel

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