The ‘False Alarmism’ Over Iranian Nukes: La Jornada, Mexico
Feb 10th, 2010 | 8 responses
Is there a case to be made that Iran has every right to enrich uranium and even pursue a nuclear weapon if it so wishes? There are many people, particularly in developing countries, who see the “big five” nuclear powers as hypocrites that refuse to consider the strategic imperatives of Iranian geopolitics.
This editorial from yesterday’s edition of Mexico’s La Jornada says in part:
To wave the scarecrow of an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons is an act of false alarmism on the part of Paris and Washington. Rather, it seems reasonable to assume that these two governments have chosen to exploit the domestic problems of the Iranian regime – a dissident movement renewed and fed by the authoritarianism and intolerance of Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s government – to push it to the ropes through unjust and hypocritical economic sanctions.
In the current situation, Iran, having endured decades under the threat of U.S. militarism, has a sovereign right to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful purposes and even, if such were the case, to develop nuclear weapons. Ultimately, the Iranian regime will have learned the lesson of Iraq, a nation that Washington accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction and which it could pulverize with impunity because it didn’t possess them.
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8 Responses to “The ‘False Alarmism’ Over Iranian Nukes: La Jornada, Mexico”
… What exactly would be “reasonable” about allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons?
Whoa, the Big Tiger scores a 'like'. Don't spend it all in one place
Those who think that Iran is a country like any other country and them having nukes is OK just hasn't really paid attention to the conditions in Iran. Even if you want to claim that the current government could be trusted, the question would be “Which government?”. Obama recently noted this problem and said you just can't know who speaks for Iran. Also, given the corruption in their system how anyone could possibly think that the Revolutionary Guard wouldn't be willing to sell nuclear weapons and/or material to all comers only shows their ignorance. The RG is currently so corrupt that they have forced their way into controlling a huge portion of Iran's economy. But they are needed by the clerics in charge and can therefore get away with pretty much anything.
What exactly would be “reasonable” about ANY country having nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons are quite possibly the most unreasonable invention humanity has ever come up with.
The more important question we need to ask is whether or not Iran – if they should become a member of the nuclear club – is unreasonable enough to actually use the weapon.
I don't see that happening. The Iranian regime would have to be downright insane to actually launch an unprovoked nuclear attack against another nation, and while the Iranian regime is certainly repressive, they're not insane. In fact they've been pretty pragmatic for the last 3 decades. My guess is that if they did manage to come up with a viable nuclear arsenal, they'd likely sit on it and use it as leverage.
Kinda like all the other members of the nuclear club have done.
There are serious questions that Iran even has the technical ability to enrich uranium to 20%. While U235 @20% is fissionable, you can't make a bomb with it, unless the bomb is the size of a house and is undeliverable.
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2010/02/08/nonp…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar…
Thank you Rudi. In fact, the difference between 20% and 97%, which is needed for a crude “fat boy” kind of weapon, is HUGE. And to get to the 99%+ purity used in current deliverable nukes, is deep in a future that Iran can't afford. Indeed, the quickest way they could destroy their future would be to divert their wimpy economic output into an arms race.
Of course, they don't need to. They can scare the crap out of the whole world by just saying they're going to “the next stage” of enrichment. Then snicker and watch as the USA and Europe act as if that would put a nuke topped ICBM on the Iranian launchpad next week.
And on the subject of nukes…. Did you know that every US nuclear power plant is like a gift from heaven for a terroist bent on nuking us but irritated with that pesky problem of how to get a nuke into the US? Did you know that nuclear power is merely uranium used to poison [and heat] water to boil to steam and then run turbines? Did you know that geothermal locations do the same exact thing without poison that lasts 100 years and mutates DNA AND that it's free, cheap and easy to extract, a thumbnail in comparison to nuclear plants to manage, equip, upgrade and run?
What a little education would do. Look what happened at the plant in CT this week? That was just a gas explosion that killed locally. A nuclear meltdown or terrorist-facilitated meltdown would be in the news for decades and spreading its impact for miles around for generations since that's how long it takes for the hurt to stop hurting.
Just some fun facts.. : )
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