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

[Kirkland Laing]

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.

I agree that Ahmadinejad is a loose cannon, but that doesn't escape the fact that Israel is the only nation in the region right now willing to step beyond loose rhetoric and actually use force to bully it's weak neighbors. You say they are incomparable, but I disagree.

Ahmadinejad is always running his mouth about this and that, but he never does anything about it. The region would better off nuclear free and that includes Israel too.

Ahmadinejad has never threatened military action on Israel. And he's got zero control over foreign policy or the Iranian army, that's down to the clerics who've consistently said that Iran would never attack any other country unless attacked first. Ahmadinejad is like the mayor of Iran. He runs the country, the clerics rule the nation.

[Gandalf]

Yep, totally agree Kirkland. Hating the Israeli's is far different than going all out to actually invade and try to destroy them. Obviously Iran doesn't have the power to do that and wouldn't be so brazen. The only way a conflict starts is if Israel itself once again goes off the handle.

[Kev]

Yep, totally agree Kirkland. Hating the Israeli's is far different than going all out to actually invade and try to destroy them. Obviously Iran doesn't have the power to do that and wouldn't be so brazen. The only way a conflict starts is if Israel itself once again goes off the handle.

Once again When was the last time? They act only in self defence.

[Kev]

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Such bullies these damn Zionists, they should pick on someone their own size

[Gandalf]

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Such bullies these damn Zionists, they should pick on someone their own size

They should stop bullying full stop, size doesn't come into it. It also helps that the other great sponsor of state led terrorist activity is right in their corner if push comes to shove. This is about nuclear weapons right? So why does tiny little Israel have an estimatel arsenal of around 300 right now? And Iran is being told "you are not allowed them". Iraq set the precedent. All states need to arm themselves with nuclear weapons incase of a preemptive strike by the US military. You don't even need evidence of wrongdoing, they will attack you anyway. It's been repeated over and over the past 50 years.

[amat]

Are you serious Miles? Why would you not want Iran to have nukes? You would get the world blown up because you are thinking to much in the interest of fairness. I don't care to talk about Israel, but do you not understand that it's paramount that someone like Iran's president never gets nukes. He's literally crazy and I mean hasn't he called for Israel to be wiped out? Calling for another country's extinction should disqualify you from Nukes. AGAIN, NOT TRYING TO TALK ABOUT ISRAEL but would you be comfortable if Iran was allowed to develop nukes?

I just fucken hate how people try to paint only one side as the bad guys. The people who absolutely kill me are those who think we should not be fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It's almost like they don't want the coalition military to take up a fight where they actually look like the good guys. These people, honestly have not got a clue. I don't either, but I can sure as hell bet you I would never ever want to spend a day under Taliban rule. They are among the most evil people on the planet, and these evil people are out there and it's NOT a bad thing to be fighting them. I don't give a fuck about politics, and the reasons why we are there and poor execution in the beginning, we're there and we couldn't possibly leave now knowing the true evils of the Taliban.

[Nameless]

Are you serious Miles? Why would you not want Iran to have nukes? You would get the world blown up because you are thinking to much in the interest of fairness. I don't care to talk about Israel, but do you not understand that it's paramount that someone like Iran's president never gets nukes. He's literally crazy and I mean hasn't he called for Israel to be wiped out? Calling for another country's extinction should disqualify you from Nukes. AGAIN, NOT TRYING TO TALK ABOUT ISRAEL but would you be comfortable if Iran was allowed to develop nukes?

I just fucken hate how people try to paint only one side as the bad guys. The people who absolutely kill me are those who think we should not be fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It's almost like they don't want the coalition military to take up a fight where they actually look like the good guys. These people, honestly have not got a clue. I don't either, but I can sure as hell bet you I would never ever want to spend a day under Taliban rule. They are among the most evil people on the planet, and these evil people are out there and it's NOT a bad thing to be fighting them. I don't give a fuck about politics, and the reasons why we are there and poor execution in the beginning, we're there and we couldn't possibly leave now knowing the true evils of the Taliban.

I don't like the Taliban either but the funny thing is that the Taliban has been put in place with the help of the CIA and the American Gov. They did that because they thought that by helping them, the Talibans would let them to use a pipeline on their territory to suck up petrol from the Caspian sea. When helping the bad guys serving your interests is ok and then very bad when they aren't doing the Yes Men, I call that hypocrisy. If they would have been ok with the pipeline, you can bet that the US would have never landed here and wouldn't give a flying f about the peoples over there.

IF you want a very good summary of it all: Afghanistan, the CIA, bin Laden, and the Taliban

[Gandalf]

Are you serious Miles? Why would you not want Iran to have nukes? You would get the world blown up because you are thinking to much in the interest of fairness. I don't care to talk about Israel, but do you not understand that it's paramount that someone like Iran's president never gets nukes. He's literally crazy and I mean hasn't he called for Israel to be wiped out? Calling for another country's extinction should disqualify you from Nukes. AGAIN, NOT TRYING TO TALK ABOUT ISRAEL but would you be comfortable if Iran was allowed to develop nukes?

I just fucken hate how people try to paint only one side as the bad guys. The people who absolutely kill me are those who think we should not be fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It's almost like they don't want the coalition military to take up a fight where they actually look like the good guys. These people, honestly have not got a clue. I don't either, but I can sure as hell bet you I would never ever want to spend a day under Taliban rule. They are among the most evil people on the planet, and these evil people are out there and it's NOT a bad thing to be fighting them. I don't give a fuck about politics, and the reasons why we are there and poor execution in the beginning, we're there and we couldn't possibly leave now knowing the true evils of the Taliban.

I have already said I would prefer a nuclear free region. But Israel having such a stockpile is a huge white elephant in the room. What I am saying is that to say that Iran cannot have them is hypocrisy. Which it obviously is. And all I am saying in addition is that in the age of the preemptive strike, a time when they will fabricate evidence and just make up a reason to attack, then you have to understand individual states wanting to try and prevent that. Whence North Korea supposedly bolstering itself up. Nobody wants to be the next Iraq.

You say Ahmadinejad is crazy, but I look at him as being unhinged mainly in the sense of his flamboyant use of rhetoric. He talks of the desire to see Israel go down in a ball of fire, but then again Kim Jong-il often comes out with the same stuff about attacking South Korea. It's lunatic talk, but do they ever do anything about it? Personally, I am not 100% convinced that North Korea really did torpedo that South Korean ship either, but even if they did, that is as far as they go. Terrible yes, but no more terrible than what Israel did really. Israel is actually in the process of ethnically cleansing Palestine, not too much talk about it mind, but that's what they are actually doing. I would prefer to listen to the crazies with their "seas of fire" rhetoric and no action than to actually see the silent huge concentration camp in action. Both are quite wrong and like I say both shouldn't really have this kind of weaponry.

We read the media every day and they are trying to set your mindset in a particular direction. It isn't all black and white at all, but usually our media likes to paint us as being the good guys in a just battle, but it really isn't the case. The Taliban suck, but go back through your own countries history and see the evil that has been done all too many times. Yes, we have freedom of speech and have certain freedoms, but at what cost to how many countries in the world through our brutal and unnecessary military colonialism and inability to respect the rights of other nations to be free from our sphere of influence? And Nameless covered it quite well, we even put the Taliban there in the first place and we only wanted them out again when they were no longer working in our interests. Where are these 9-11 terror suspects BTW? All forgotten about.

[Gandalf]

And I saw that the UN passed new harsher sanctions on Iran yeserday and that the US spent a good five months putting the package together. What a charade. The US has veto'ed how many resolutions against Israel since the early '70's? And yet sanctions are handed out to other less than moral regimes like confetti. Iraq, North Korea, Iran and so on Why no sanctions for the Saudi's? And far more importantly why no sanctions on the Israeli's? Oh, because America dictates things at the end of the day and we should like Israel. Interesting how most international terrorism comes out of Washington and most middle east terrorism comes from Israel. A lot of common bonds there. That and the powerful Jewish lobby in the States. I guess there isn't much of an Iranian lobby.

And some softies think Iran are the dangerous ones? Get the propaganda out of yer ears! Two states are armed up to the eyes with the most sophisticated weaponry (frequently shared between them) in this world and Iran isn't one of them. Iran poses far less a risk to the world than either one of those well armed states.

[Gandalf]

Let's not forget the recent fallacy of Iraq. The entire premise for war was a lie and that is only one of countless faulty premises invented by the US government since WW2. Usually they involve smaller state sponsored terrorist attacks. The bombing of Libya in the 1980's for instance was particularly random and all of the US evidence fabricated. It is just that the US media is unwilling to go against the interests of Washington Hawks.

The propaganda and hype about Iran is much the same thing. The very idea that people are talking of the need for regime change bewilders me. Iran is admittedly a very dodgy place, but is it any more dodgy than countless other states in the world? Would anyone like to live in Saudi Arabia for instance? So let's invade them right? Oh, but it isn't in our interests.

I think war is way off, but I wouldn't bet against mini America (Israel) attempting to do something nutty in order to bolster domestic standing. It wouldn't be the first time.