So....is war in the Middle East imminent?

[Kev]

It's not looking good right now, and things seem to be escalating.

Iran is about to be sanctioned it seems for their nuclear program, their loony President has repeated all week his desire to see Israel destroyed, saying they have sealed their fate following the Flotilla incident.

I imagine Turkey and Syria, along with Hezbollah and Hamas will be licking their lips like Hyenas at this and Russia and China could well be waiting in the wings.

Obviously the Iranians have their own aid convoys en route to Gaza next and although they have said they are not going to go via Israel's blockade I imagine this could still be a tense week and they are not exactly going to be welcomed by the Israeli's.

I can really this kicking off brutally soon if something isn't done.

My own feeling is that Iran will threaten Israel, that it's neighbours will also start making threats, some incident will happen and threaten Israeli security, and the Jews be forced into launching some preemptive strike and battering the Iranians and then who knows what might happen....

Worrying times ahead imo.

[paddy448]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

[Kev]

Interesting article on it here. Sounds like a real dilemma for Israel....

International conflict: War between Israel and Iran in 2010? | Capital Flow Watch

[Nameless]

It's quite a worrying situation indeed, not sure how far it',ll go but a lot of innocents on both side are on the line and it reeks: If Iranians would want to send some help for Gaza, normally I would be ok with it and I would also be ok with them being angry if their convoys would be attacked. However, as Bilbo stated, their President is a freak, the kind of freak you can't but have to take seriously because of the power he has but the very last man who should seat anywhere near power. I imagine that after the stupid war Israel waged on Lebanon, obliterating the country but being kicked out badly by a Nasrallah, losing more soldiers than the Hezbollah lost men and getting 16 tanks destroyed on top, The Hezbollah could be keen in kicking them in the teeth... I guess that Syria and Iran wouldn't mind a little help after having been bullied for years and Turkey, if they do not provide help, won't let the american use their territory to help Israel if needs is there....
I don't think that Israel would use the nuke though because they know that if they do that, there is no more Jerusalem on the map but nastiness can be titan like on both side... Bad time to live in the Middle East I tell ya.

[CFH]

I see no way, short of regime change and perhaps complete revolution in Iran, that war can be avoided.

Biblical stuff aside, what interests do China and Russia have in the Middle East that would cause them to go to war on the side of the Arabs? Is it just oil like everyone else? For some reason I always thought/assumed that China had their own oil resources.

[CFH]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

[Kev]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

Well if they don't want to get preemptively bombed to shit they do.

[CFH]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

Well if they don't want to get preemptively bombed to shit they do.

Who's bombing them?

I don't think a simple diffusion of their nuclear program would really deter an Iran-Israeli war in the long-term, though I could be wrong. It's Iran's bat-shit crazy leader that's the problem IMO.

[Kev]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

Well if they don't want to get preemptively bombed to shit they do.

Who's bombing them?

I don't think a simple diffusion of their nuclear program would really deter an Iran-Israeli war in the long-term, though I could be wrong. It's Iran's bat-shit crazy leader that's the problem IMO.

Well there is no way in hell Isreal will allow them to get to the point where they could have nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad has today refused to continue talks over the program if the sanctions against Iran get passed and instead gone on some crazy counteroffensive accusing the US of kidnapping one of their scientists.

I saw a youtube video with the army general of Iran saying if Israel do try and attack they will wipe them out of existance in 11 days. Good luck with that is all I can say.

My guess is Turkey will side with them, their prime minister and president are both known to be strongly tied in with radical Islamists, and are using last week's incident to break ties with Israel.

Last week's events may turn out to be one of those pivotal moments, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, or the staged Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Russia are arming Iran with a modern anti aircraft missile defence so Israel will have to strike soonish. I think it's clear also that they are unlikely to count on the support of Obama any more and are increasingly seeing themselves as completely alone.

I really don't want to see war, but part of me kind of wants these Arabs to try it and attack Israel only for Ahmadinejad and his allies to get completely annihilated.

[CFH]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

Well if they don't want to get preemptively bombed to shit they do.

Who's bombing them?

I don't think a simple diffusion of their nuclear program would really deter an Iran-Israeli war in the long-term, though I could be wrong. It's Iran's bat-shit crazy leader that's the problem IMO.

Well there is no way in hell Isreal will allow them to get to the point where they could have nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad has today refused to continue talks over the program if the sanctions against Iran get passed and instead gone on some crazy counteroffensive accusing the US of kidnapping one of their scientists.

I saw a youtube video with the army general of Iran saying if Israel do try and attack they will wipe them out of existance in 11 days. Good luck with that is all I can say.

My guess is Turkey will side with them, their prime minister and president are both known to be strongly tied in with radical Islamists, and are using last week's incident to break ties with Israel.

Last week's events may turn out to be one of those pivotal moments, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, or the staged Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Russia are arming Iran with a modern anti aircraft missile defence so Israel will have to strike soonish. I think it's clear also that they are unlikely to count on the support of Obama any more and are increasingly seeing themselves as completely alone.

I really don't want to see war, but part of me kind of wants these Arabs to try it and attack Israel only for Ahmadinejad and his allies to get completely annihilated.

Turkey would be insane to join in. Utterly insane.

I would hate to see war, especially this type of war where there would be long-standing racial and ethnic hatreds in addition to two (maybe even three depending on who joins in) different religious ideologies. That could lead to some terrible things.

[Nameless]

Very worrying times indeed, who the fukk approved irans nuclear program, their president is a fukkin nutjob. Definately cause for concern

I don't understand what that means, Iran doesn't need anyone to approve their nuclear program.

Well if they don't want to get preemptively bombed to shit they do.

Who's bombing them?

I don't think a simple diffusion of their nuclear program would really deter an Iran-Israeli war in the long-term, though I could be wrong. It's Iran's bat-shit crazy leader that's the problem IMO.

Well there is no way in hell Isreal will allow them to get to the point where they could have nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad has today refused to continue talks over the program if the sanctions against Iran get passed and instead gone on some crazy counteroffensive accusing the US of kidnapping one of their scientists.

I saw a youtube video with the army general of Iran saying if Israel do try and attack they will wipe them out of existance in 11 days. Good luck with that is all I can say.

My guess is Turkey will side with them, their prime minister and president are both known to be strongly tied in with radical Islamists, and are using last week's incident to break ties with Israel.

Last week's events may turn out to be one of those pivotal moments, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, or the staged Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Russia are arming Iran with a modern anti aircraft missile defence so Israel will have to strike soonish. I think it's clear also that they are unlikely to count on the support of Obama any more and are increasingly seeing themselves as completely alone.

I really don't want to see war, but part of me kind of wants these Arabs to try it and attack Israel only for Ahmadinejad and his allies to get completely annihilated.

If they fight like an army of fifth generation should like the Hezbollah did, they could hurt Israel a lot... imagine that, the Hezbollah absolutely nut sacked Israel, to the point where it caused a damn stirrup in Israel at the time, more soldiers killed than hezbollah warriors, they lost 16 Merkava if my memory is correct and didn't find their two kidnapped soldiers... Also, Israel's budget is tight like a virgin's booty, they couldn't fight a war of attrition, especially because Iran is a damn damn big land to control with many hostile territories and if ever they receive the new anti-missile system of the Russians along with their new sonic ballistic missile.... they are in for a long day if they have to go to the attrition's war.

[Gandalf]

I hope it doesn't come down to war, but the double standards in the middle east are just astounding. Iran is to be sanctioned meanwhile Israel already has up to 300 nuclear warheads ready for use. Furthermore, they have a history of trying to sell said weaponry to other rogue states. With Israel's continued mistreatment of Gaza and frequent violations of international law they should be the ones suffering sanctions. Instead America uses the veto every single time and meanwhile continues to pump money into Israel. The hypocrisy is so blatant and there is not even any attempt to hide it.

[CFH]

I hope it doesn't come down to war, but the double standards in the middle east are just astounding. Iran is to be sanctioned meanwhile Israel already has up to 300 nuclear warheads ready for use. Furthermore, they have a history of trying to sell said weaponry to other rogue states. With Israel's continued mistreatment of Gaza and frequent violations of international law they should be the ones suffering sanctions. Instead America uses the veto every single time and meanwhile continues to pump money into Israel. The hypocrisy is so blatant and there is not even any attempt to hide it.

The big difference is that Iran is run by a fucking lunatic. You may disagree with much of what Israel does, as do I, but Iran is run by a nutcase dictator who sees it as his duty to bring about the end of the world. That man should not under any circumstances be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

[Gandalf]

I hope it doesn't come down to war, but the double standards in the middle east are just astounding. Iran is to be sanctioned meanwhile Israel already has up to 300 nuclear warheads ready for use. Furthermore, they have a history of trying to sell said weaponry to other rogue states. With Israel's continued mistreatment of Gaza and frequent violations of international law they should be the ones suffering sanctions. Instead America uses the veto every single time and meanwhile continues to pump money into Israel. The hypocrisy is so blatant and there is not even any attempt to hide it.

The big difference is that Iran is run by a fucking lunatic. You may disagree with much of what Israel does, as do I, but Iran is run by a nutcase dictator who sees it as his duty to bring about the end of the world. That man should not under any circumstances be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Israel appears to be heading along that path too right now. They are both quite unhinged. Weapons should be taken off of the both of them. To allow one to have them above the other is unjustified.

[CFH]

I hope it doesn't come down to war, but the double standards in the middle east are just astounding. Iran is to be sanctioned meanwhile Israel already has up to 300 nuclear warheads ready for use. Furthermore, they have a history of trying to sell said weaponry to other rogue states. With Israel's continued mistreatment of Gaza and frequent violations of international law they should be the ones suffering sanctions. Instead America uses the veto every single time and meanwhile continues to pump money into Israel. The hypocrisy is so blatant and there is not even any attempt to hide it.

The big difference is that Iran is run by a fucking lunatic. You may disagree with much of what Israel does, as do I, but Iran is run by a nutcase dictator who sees it as his duty to bring about the end of the world. That man should not under any circumstances be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Israel appears to be heading along that path too right now. They are both quite unhinged. Weapons should be taken off of the both of them. To allow one to have them above the other is unjustified.

There is a huge difference between Ahmadinejad and any mainstream Israeli leader. They're incomparable.