The Australian: Obama Accepts a Nuclear Iran

[visionary]

I hope you are right,but you neglect the large portion under 30 that buy what the theocracy is selling.

True. There are a lot of brainwashed and bought off Basiji there.

I also think that the last thing the Iranian leaders want is peace between Israel and Palestine.

They need Israel as the bad guy, even if a lot of Iranians aren't really as anti-Israel as the government wants them to be.

[Burgold]

I always cringe a bit when someone asks this question because it frames the situation as Israel just wanting to mind its own business while the surrounding Arabs want to destroy them for just being Jewish.

I know that you are openly hostile to Israel, but are you really responding and defending the scenario above that Iran gets to nuke Israel?

[Midnight Judges]

They can, MJ? Or they have?

As far as I know that information is not available.

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/irannuclearpoliticsdisarmament

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran said on Sunday it will host a nuclear disarmament conference this month to be attended by China, which has been resisting new sanctions against Tehran over its atomic ambitions.

"This is an international conference and Iran, which advocates nuclear disarmament, is calling on all nations to disarm," Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told the official IRNA news agency.

Jalili said "the Chinese have welcomed the initiative... and will participate" in the April 17-18 conference.

The conference -- called "Nuclear Energy For All, Nuclear Weapons For No-one" -- would come soon after an international nuclear security summit to be held in Washington on April 12-13.

[Burgold]

Is there a bit of intellectual dissonance in hosting a nuclear disarmament conference all the while trying to build up and develop a nuclear program?

[twa]

Is there a bit of intellectual dissonance in hosting a nuclear disarmament conference all the while trying to build up and develop a nuclear program?

Not if your goal is to disparage others and obscure the issue at hand.

Iranians ain't stupid....at least not in most things

Wait ...did you seriously just ask if a country fronted by Imanutjob(mr no gays in Iran) could be intellectually dishonest?

[DCsportsfan53]

A invasion is not envisioned by anyone

I understand that. My point is, realistically, anything short of that will likely only cause a short term delay to their nuclear efforts, leading us to part 2 of that statement.

[twa]

I understand that. My point is, realistically, anything short of that will likely only cause a short term delay to their nuclear efforts, leading us to part 2 of that statement.

Depends on what you consider short term,certainly a nation as rich in resources as Iran can continue to pour money into the pursuit of nukes.

The real question is will they?

A effective strike comes with extreme economic costs as well as the difficulty in replacing critical machinery and talent needed.

A huge investment has been made by Iran on the backs of the public both in pursuing nukes and expanding influence worldwide.

A effective strike could create a hole the public will not support filling,especially if you cripple a few other critical points.

But that depends on the public having a say and just what the reaction to a strike would be.

No easy answers and the effects from any path taken are gonna have lasting impacts for a long time.

Sanctions and living with the repercussions from a nuclear Iran on the region itself are gonna be real problems as well.

Simply a matter of picking your poison,unless regime change comes soon.(and of course the choice is not simply in our hands alone)

The question I see Israel asking itself is...Would Iran be any more of a danger to us if we do strike than if we do not?

The next few months are gonna be interesting in the long term effects.

Interesting Times indeed.

[DCsportsfan53]

I hear what you are saying, I just don't think the idea of "an effective strike" would be as easy to pull off as it seems you're suggesting. I doubt they have all their eggs in one basket, so to speak, when it comes to their nuclear program. And back to what I mentioned in the first post, despite some of the recent unrest, we're talking about a very old and independent society that will unite with strong nationalism should Israel attack in any way. I just don't see a realistic way to completely stop them from attaining nukes without full scale war.