tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post114528455022427377..comments2024-03-06T03:15:58.539-05:00Comments on <b>THE NEW REFORM CLUB</b>: Danger in IranHunter Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14961831404331998743noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1145375584467357502006-04-18T11:53:00.000-04:002006-04-18T11:53:00.000-04:00Sanctions on Investment, rather than full fleged s...Sanctions on Investment, rather than full fleged sanctions were argued for by Fred Kaplan in <A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2139516" REL="nofollow">Slate</A>. Aren't both measures likely to take oil to $100/barrel?<BR/><BR/>This <I>might</I>, nay, will probably give moderates in Iran more time to reform the country. <BR/><BR/>Another good article by <A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2139845/nav/tap1/" REL="nofollow">Kaplan</A>.<BR/><BR/>And as for reality, covered by the <A HREF="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/17/143241" REL="nofollow">alternative media</A>... it's more of the same, covert ops, and more politics.Devanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08039407801743458960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1145320443923045832006-04-17T20:34:00.000-04:002006-04-17T20:34:00.000-04:00A conventional military intervention in Iran was n...A conventional military intervention in Iran was never in the cards. It is mountainous like Afghanistan, and has more than twice the population of Iraq. Geez. Even if Rumsfeld and Bush are incompetent, they're not stupid.<BR/><BR/>The US is just doing its moral duty in trying to wake up the EUers, and Russia, for that matter. It is they who will suffer.<BR/><BR/>We know they will not hear, just as they would not hear about Hitler.<BR/><BR/>But we try, anyway, even though they are corrupt, and weak, because it would be immoral not to. The result of an Iranian/Islamic bomb will probably not even be the explosion of one. Instead, it will be the subjugation of secularism and the Enlightenment to <I>dhimmitude</I>: Islamic law and Balkanization will creep into the polity. Family matters will get their separate Islamic courts, as is already happening in Canada. Freedom of the press slits its wrists in the face of a palpable threat to home and family. Cracking down on "street" protests will become impossible, as if France's nightly, brightly aflame automobiles hasn't already proven that it is.<BR/><BR/>Jihad is but a crude, unnuanced form of Islamism. Like the man said, it'll go down not with a bang but a whimper. Since Hiroshima, the efficacy of nuclear weapons lies not in their unspeakable but measurable reality as weapons, but in their threat.<BR/><BR/>The threat of violence has more power than violence itself. That's what this is all about.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1145314900718924982006-04-17T19:01:00.000-04:002006-04-17T19:01:00.000-04:00So, in other words, Mercer validates the prevailin...So, in other words, Mercer validates the prevailing Democrat and liberal critique of the Iraq misadventure: Namely that it distracted attention and pulled resources from far greater threats. Glad to hear you're on-board with the rest of us, Sam.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.com