Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu lays it out:
I think to fully translate understanding into actions, we must address the question of whether the world can live with a nuclear Iran. For a lot of influential people, and I suppose for some of the people here today, a nuclear-armed Iran would certainly be a danger, but perhaps I think it wouldn’t be a new danger. After all, the Soviets had nuclear weapons. They were contained. So, too, it is argued, a nuclear-armed Iran could be also contained.
But the Soviet Union is far different and was far different from what we see today in Iran. The Soviets certainly had global, ideological ambitions, but in international affairs, they acted with supreme rationality. Every time the Soviets were faced with a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose survival: in Berlin, in Cuba and elsewhere. And to the best of my knowledge, there were not many Soviet suicide bombers.
The Iranian regime is different. They’re driven by a militant ideology that is based on an entirely different set of values, a value system that may seem entirely irrational to us but is pervasive, very powerful, among those competing for leadership among the Islamic militants.
Look at what happened nearly a decade ago in another part of this militant world. The Taliban allowed al Qaeda, operating on its soil, to dispatch terrorists to bomb New York, this city, and to bomb Washington. Now, what were they thinking? Did they think that the greatest power in the world would simply ignore mass destruction in its cities? Did they think that the United States of America would ignore an attack on its financial center, on its military headquarters, on its capital city? Were they that stupid? Or were they instead driven not by cool reason but by a fiery fanaticism that overcomes normal logics?
Iran sends children into mine fields. Iran denies the Holocaust. Iran openly calls for Israel’s destruction. Iran empowers Hezbollah with rockets and has overtaken half of Lebanon. Iran empowers Hamas with rockets, has overtaken Gaza and half of the Palestinian polity. Iran has sent saboteurs and terrorist squads into Egypt. Iran sends tentacles into the Yemen and threatens directly Saudi Arabia. Iran sends weapons into South America. This is what they do today when they don’t have nuclear weapons. Think of what they will do tomorrow when they do have them.
It is very hard for modern men and women to come to terms with the role of irrationality in human affairs. We tend to think that people and states are driven solely by interests, by a sober calculation of cost and benefit. We must recognize that those who glorify death and those who dispatch hordes of suicide bombers are not driven by grievances which can be addressed or by a despair which can be alleviated.
We must recognize that there are wide-eyed true believers, even mad believers in the world. There are fanatics who subscribe to a twisted creed and they are willing to pay any price of its realization. And they are driven by a fervent hope that they will succeed at any price.
Shakespeare advises to see the method in the madness. But facing today’s militants in the Greater Middle East, we should be well-advised to see the madness in the method — to recognize that not everyone is constrained by the calculus of cost and benefit that has been associated with nuclear weapons; to recognize that some people, organizations and regimes might act in ways that no one has acted since the advent of the era of nuclear peace that has followed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must not allow the world’s most dangerous regimes to possess the world’s most dangerous weapons. This is the single greatest challenge of our time, and we must not fail to address it.
Full interview here.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
There weren’t Soviet suicide bombers. OK. Where are the Iranian suicide bombers? I’ve never heard of an Iranian suicide bomber. Suicide bombers come from nations that are dealing with occupations by an outside military. Since Iran is not presently occupied we wouldn’t expect much suicide bombing from it, though it is fundamentalist Muslim. But fundamentalist Muslim does not correlate to suicide bombing like occupation does.
What is this value system that he claims Iranians hold to that is different from our own? Iran supplies Hezbollah with rockets. OK. Well, we supplied Afghanistan with rockets when they were invaded by the Soviet Union. So are they different from us? We think that when a nation is invaded they have the right to defend themselves, and we might just help them. What’s wrong with that? Israel has invaded and occupied Lebanon half a dozen times in the last 30 years, killing tens of thousands of civilians. So what if they get weaponry from Iran. Shouldn’t they be permitted to defend themselves?
“Iran denies the holocaust.” That doesn’t even make sense. Iran is made up of people, some of whom deny the holocaust presumably, as some Americans do. It’s always about the holocaust with right wing Israeli war mongers, as if this insulates them from criticism of their aggressive wars. Anybody should be permitted to hold an oddball opinion without fear of obliteration.
“Iran calls for Israel’s destruction.” No. What Iran does is basically say that in the fullness of time the Israeli state will cease to exist, like the Soviet Union did. That may be true. Israel’s actions may lead to it’s own destruction. But Iran does not threaten Israel. Israel threatens Iran all the time, which is a crime actually under the UN Charter.
Iran sends terrorists into Egypt. Well, if that’s true does it even amount to 1/10th of the terrorism Israel inflicts on places like Gaza and Lebanon?
The end of his speech is the old whip of the fear and pretend Iranians are crazy and irrational. This is how you can justify the conclusion that attacking them is necessary. There’s nothing crazy about their behavior. They try to negotiate on nuclear matters. They advocate a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East, which Israel and the US continue to block. They subject their nuclear sites to IAEA inspection, which Israel won’t do. They’ve signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and abide by it. Israel won’t sign. Israel is the aggressive state here, not Iran.
Im curious Jon, what do you think about Iran having nuclear weapons? Does that scare you, and if so, why?
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Is this possible?
Iran is going to have nuclear weapons, the democrats under bush made the case “no matter how weak” that any country who can afford a nuclear program has the right to a nuclear program.
The world has a different definition of what a nuclear program can mean.
Our allies in the middle east have started there own nuclear programs even though they don’t need nuclear, but for the know how on how to build their own nuclear weapons.
The case that the democrats made was a case for the world going nuclear.
Discovered you web site via yahoo I have to admit I m astounded along with your content!