Welcome, David. Let’s play Global Thermonuclear War.
Iran declares they are developing nuclear technology. They say that it is strictly for peaceful purposes, but insist that if they wanted, they have the right to have nuclear weapons. Do you:
A) Protest, but not too strenuously?
B) Stop them?
A
Iran says that the United States has to withdraw all forces from the Middle East, including all Navy ships from the Persian Gulf, or face “dire consequences.” Do you:
A) Comply under protest?
B) Refuse and confront them?
A
Iran announces that they now possess nuclear weapons. They have previously shown that they have missiles that can deliver those weapons to anywhere in the Middle East, as well as parts of Europe. Do you:
A) Protest to the UN?
B) Stop them?
A
Iran says that the Zionists have to evacuate Palestine and return to their countries of origin, or face “grave consequences.” Do you:
A) Protest to the UN?
B) Confront them?
A
Tel Aviv has just been nuked. Estimated casualties: 100,000+. Do you wish to:
A) Urge Israel to show restraint and protest to the UN?
B) Strike back against Iran directly?
A
Israel has launched its own nuclear weapons against Iran. Iran has launched its remaining nuclear weapons against Israel. Several weapons have missed their intended targets, landing in Iraq, Jordan, Syria. The Arab world en masse has declared war on what remains of Israel. Large clouds of fallout are drifing across the Middle East, endangering countless civilians and US forces stationed there.
Estimated casualties:
Iran: 5 million+
Israel: 4.5 million+
Jordan: 900,000+
Iraq: 500,000+
Syria: 200,000+
US: 6,000+
Price of oil breaks $200/barrel. Flow of tankers through the Persian Gulf comes to standstill. Gasoline and energy shortages throughout much of the world. China declares ownership of Spratly Islands and their untapped oil reserves. Philippines, Taiwan, Viet Nam all protest and threaten to take military action. Japan allies itself with Philippines and backs their claim. War breaks out.
Mexico offers the United States oil at $150/barrel — as long as the US eases back on its enforcement of border security and illegal aliens.
Much of the Arab world blames the US for the nuclear exchange between Israel and Iran, as we supported Israel for far too long and permitted them to have the nuclear weapons they used to hit back. Terrorism against US targets at home and abroad skyrockets.
Do you wish to play again?
Cloninger
My most recent post apparently was written as you wrote yours and I like the discussion. While I don’t agree w/ everything you said, it is clear that you are the kind of rational antagonist that I had hoped to engage.
Your’re (lol) correction of “radial” was quick & unecessary as I wouldn’t have picked it apart because I am well aware of typos. We both have xmitted before re-reading carefully.
Apologies to others for this intrapersonal debate, but glad to have encountered you. It is late & I’ll look for you again.
Ron Paul is a different kind of RINO — for years he was a card-carrying Libertarian. He joined the GOP out of political expediency. The excerpt James provided is consistent with those Libertarian roots.
While I often agree with a lot of what he says, he is dead wrong on this … for even if we were to go beyond what the good Congressman wants, take a page from the Pat Buchanan playbook, and unplug our extensive interconnections to the world (to avoid “intervention” in every sense of the word, and to eliminate these interconnections as targets), this expansionist enemy would continue to spread, and eventually bring the fight to our shores.
Maybe not next week … but sooner or later, we (or our children) would have to face them, and the cost … in their lives, as well as our lives and liberty … will be several orders of magnitude higher than what we are presently paying …
… which, because of the INACTION advocated and implemented by the critics of this Administration, is already far higher than it needed to be.
What the Iranians are doing is not legitimate payback for our actions in the 1950’s … people fighting for freedom don’t support terrorists that intentionally target noncombatants. (Same reason why the vast majority of Iraq’s “insurgents” are not the “freedom fighters” Michael Moore made them out to be)
I don’t think that payback is even close to the primary motivating factor for them … it is the desire to see their worldview imposed upon the world, plain and simple.
Their worldview: totalitarian tyranny, under their total control.
It must be opposed … in a timely manner, with resolve, decisively.
Or we will be “playing the game.”
Dear Jay,
I did not understand what exactly are you trying to say? Are you some how glorifying or predicting a World War?
Let us assume for a second that Iran is developing Nuclear Weapons( which it isn’t, there isn’t any proof that is either) why can’t diplomacy be used as an option? If USA makes Iran feel safe and Iran does the same such a situation can be avoided. I have come to believe that the solution to the problem is to forget the past and think about the future.
Is this what we were born for? USA can make Iran feel safer by starting to disarm itself. That way Iran will feel less threatened.
Appeasement kills.
Mak44
I,ve read Your postings above and there are numerous mispells and errors. this does not matter to me and is irrelevant to any of the discussions, so please stick to issues and lay off the “Im a college scholar in english grammar kick” you not impressing anyone, but for yourself..
This is what I find kind of funny: One of the reasons I jumped ship years ago and left the left, is that I looked around myself and realized many in my party were batshit crazy.
Mantis, one of Wizbang’s resident lefties, seems to be noticing something similar.
Come to the darkside mantis…