Facing Down Iran

City Journal ^ | Spring 2006 | Mark Steyn

[Col. Bob]

Most Westerners read the map of the world like a Broadway marquee: north is top of the bill—America, Britain, Europe, Russia—and the rest dribbles away into a mass of supporting players punctuated by occasional Star Guests: India, China, Australia. Everyone else gets rounded up into groups: “Africa,” “Asia,” “Latin America.”

But if you’re one of the down-page crowd, the center of the world is wherever you happen to be. Take Iran: it doesn’t fit into any of the groups. Indeed, it’s a buffer zone between most of the important ones: to the west, it borders the Arab world; to the northwest, it borders NATO (and, if Turkey ever passes its endless audition, the European Union); to the north, the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation’s turbulent Caucasus; to the northeast, the Stans—the newly independent states of central Asia; to the east, the old British India, now bifurcated into a Muslim-Hindu nuclear standoff. And its southern shore sits on the central artery that feeds the global economy.

[Col. Bob]

This is a must read on the threat of Isalm/Iran.

[DB]

Mark for later read.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

This is old, or from last week.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>Anyone who spends half an hour looking at Iranian foreign policy over the last 27 years sees five things:

contempt for the most basic international conventions;
long-reach extraterritoriality;
effective promotion of radical Pan-Islamism;
a willingness to go the extra mile for Jew-killing (unlike, say, Osama);
an all-but-total synchronization between rhetoric and action.<<<<

Number five is the one that has our political leaders stumped. The professional political classes in Western societies are abashed and frightened by the "naivete and primitiveness" of anyone who actually says what they mean and means what they say.

[livius]

Long but really excellent analysis. I think he's right on target. Also, this interesting tidbit:

And let’s not forget Bill Clinton’s extraordinary remarks at Davos last year: “Iran today is, in a sense, the only country where progressive ideas enjoy a vast constituency. It is there that the ideas that I subscribe to are defended by a majority.”

Yipes! Whatever did BJ mean by this one?

[DuncanWaring]

Whatever did BJ mean by this one?

He meant "Where are the interns?"

[visitor]

On The Origins of War by Donald Kagan Published 1995...

"The Cuban missile crisis demonstrated that it is not enough for the state that wishes to maintain peace and the status quo to have superior power. The crisis came because the more powerful state also had a leader who failed to convince his opponent of his will to use its power for that purpose."


http://community-2.webtv.net/rtowen/myBlog/page2.html ...rto

[visitor]

On The Origins of War by Donald Kagan Published 1995...

"The Cuban missile crisis demonstrated that it is not enough for the state that wishes to maintain peace and the status quo to have superior power. The crisis came because the more powerful state also had a leader who failed to convince his opponent of his will to use its power for that purpose."


http://community-2.webtv.net/rtowen/myBlog/page2.html ...rto

[kenavi]

"Whatever did BJ mean by this one?"

He meant "Where are the interns?"

It means he is inhaling.

[hford02]

Nuking Iran would be a lot cheaper than invading it

[Quix]

Excellent points. Particularly these:

Number five is the one that has our political leaders stumped. The professional political classes in Western societies are abashed and frightened by the "naivete and primitiveness" of anyone who actually says what they mean and means what they say.