The threat of attack on Iran is needed to deter it

A threat of an attack is not going to stop Iran, especially not in the light of what is happening in Libya and the uprising Iran has already experienced. An Iranian regime with nuclear weapons will ensure its survival and make it into a fortress like North Korea.

Today's June 16,2011 Globaltimes.cn article 'SOC hails anti-terror' is worth reading. SOC= Shanghai Cooperation Org.,Iran's PM Ahmadinejad was a non-member,non-status bystander- SOC members are China,Russia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan,Tajikstan-- summit meeting in Astona,Kazakhstan. Subjects- 3 evild: terrorism,extremism,separatism,drug and weapons transportation. In the picture was also Hamid Karzai (Afgh) and others perhaps you recognize. The question I have in lieu of Iran- are the LARIJANIS; eldest son ALi (Ardeshir)is Speaker of Majlis, SADEQ- mullah-Chief Justice (Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei),MUHAMMAD-JAWAD- attended Berkeley,CA,US, math.- 18 posts, BAQER,M.D.- Dean of Faculty of Medicine,Teheran; FAZEL, Diplomat- Canada. Who are Ahmadinejad's forces? The Larijanis have the potential of changing a lot in the affairs of Iran. I'd like to know more about them in order to form an informed decision.

Libya, a country of 4.5 million people and no offensive capability or even defense. no strategic position (ex: Persian Gulf) is bombed tirelessly for three months and the outcome is still uncertain, despite a huge war machine set in motion by NATO. do you seriously think that Iran, a country huge, with a powerful response capability, and strategic place, will be afraid of israel? anyone who knows how to count up to four, will tell you quite sure that nooooo

Since countries like Israel and Pakistan have gone nuclear the only factor to ensure stability in the ME is the good old MAD. Iran is not a bit more dangerous than Israel and Pakistan and that's a fact! Having said that, I believe the ME should be nuclear free, and that should certainly start with Israel's "ambiguous" nukes arsenal that is clear and present danger to everyone including the people of Israel.

First fact: Having the peaceful nuclear energy hence having the knowledge of building the bomb takes away the importance of possession and helps the destruction of such weapons The rest of the Facts: Practice of prejudice, hatred, deception, and invert the truth, has been propaganda apparatus to validate injustice in the region, holocaust a grave tragedy, and no one denies, but the plot to form Zionist regime is the question For centauries through out the history the natives lived together dominated by majority rule in harmony, and they respected each others heritage, related to one another through intercourse, association, socializing and being part of it, as one family Israel is not a Jewish state, and not because they are or not Jews but because they don’t belong to the environment and since the circumstances is not like the new world, they don’t understand the heritage, culture, and the history of the land The natives in Israel are not the settlers; the natives are Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who were Jews or Christians before becoming Muslims this artificial phenomenon has been created to divide and rule The question is what kind of people chose Israel to emigrate to, when the choice of Europe, new world countries are in hand?

First fact: Having the peaceful nuclear energy hence having the knowledge of building the bomb takes away the importance of possession and helps the destruction of such weapons The rest of the Facts: Practice of prejudice, hatred, deception, and invert the truth, has been propaganda apparatus to validate injustice in the region, holocaust a grave tragedy, and no one denies, but the plot to form Zionist regime is the question For centauries through out the history the natives lived together dominated by majority rule in harmony, and they respected each others heritage, related to one another through intercourse, association, socializing and being part of it, as one family Israel is not a Jewish state, and not because they are or not Jews but because they don’t belong to the environment and since the circumstances is not like the new world, they don’t understand the heritage, culture, and the history of the land The natives in Israel are not the settlers; the natives are Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who were Jews or Christians before becoming Muslims this artificial phenomenon has been created to divide and rule The question is what kind of people chose Israel to emigrate to, when the choice of Europe, new world countries are in hand?

It spills out even what should be kept secret.

The IRGC published a satyrical article on it's website (Gerdab) on 24 April this year. Perhaps most amusing is the headlines of various news sources. A rough translation is available at http://talkingwarheads.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/the-day-after-the-first-iranian-nuclear-test.pdf The IRGC post is at ://www.gerdab.ir/fa/news/5218/فردای-نخستین-آزمایش-هسته%E2%80%8Cای-ایران،-یک-روز-معمولی

If this logic applies, then the threat of wiping Israel of the face of the earth is needed to deter it form its foriegn occupying policies

Is this the same Iran that just put a satellite in orbit and who refuses to stop their nuclear program no matter what? Here is an important clue for Shavit. Iraq, supported by America, made a surprise attack upon Iran. Iraq even used some small svcale WMD's on the Iranians, wiping out entire villages. In spite of having hundreds of thousands of casualties, the Iranians fought back over the course of a decade and pushed into Iraq. When it appeared that Iran would capture the Iraqi oilfields Russia and America and the UN moved quickly to stop the war. Iran is not an enemy that will be "deterred" and certainly not by Israel.

Israel will push back with such ferocity the Islamic world will tremble because of it. Israel will visit such destruction, that her enemies will tremble in fear for a thousand years. Greater Israel like the Phoenix will emerge from the ashes to light up the world. It is written!

Fact one. Israel has nukes. Fact two. The US has nukes. Fact three Russia has nukes. Fact 4 Pakistan has nukes. Fact 5 India has nukes. Fact 6 China has nukes. Fact 7 France has nukes Fact 8 Britian has nukes. Fact 9 Threats from these nations lead the nations being threatened, is to get nukes too........Fear is the biggest reason for the nuclear arms race in the first place. So tell me again why fear will lessen the want/ need of more nukes?

The writer does what many advocates do and that is he elevates his opinions to facts. Replace the word fact with the word opinion in the article and you get a better analysis.

you claim that this is a fact- 'A military attack against Iran would incite a disastrous regional war, which would cost the lives of thousands of Israelis. A military attack against Iran would turn it into a great vengeful power that would sanctify eternal war against the Jewish State. A military attack against Iran would cause a world financial crisis and isolate Israel from the family of nations' is there any information that can back up these claims. here are the facts from which it is clear that your facts are incorrect. 1. iran is far far away from israel and has limited arsenal of ballistic missiles. many of them can be dealt with by the arrow defense system. iranian only reliable ally in the region is hizballah, but it is not clear that the hizballah will join the iranian war- lebanon will suffer too much. so, 'a disastrous regional war, which would cost the lives of thousands of Israelis' is not all quaranteed. 2. 'great vengeful power that would sanctify eternal war against the Jewish State' sounds scary but in practice would require iranians to mess up with the whole world- will they do that is not that clear. 3. 'A military attack against Iran would cause a world financial crisis and isolate Israel from the family of nations'. they can only do that by blocking oil production/delivery from other gulf states- this would be illegal and again put them against the whole world. in any event, this would be a very short crisis before things are resolved via diplomacy or military threats.

as everyone involved knows the "second fact", i.e. any military action would be disastrous for the region and the world, there isn't any ambiguity and no place for the "fourth fact", i.e. "mum's the word". So there is no military option. Everybody knows it, so what is there to be ambiguous about?

first is, "we can not accept a nuclear Iran?", which gives you the right to speakin the name of the entire planet? survey shows that European and American leaders will rather accept a nuclear Iran than to try an unnecessary war and ruinous

we know that israel is a threat.

haha good one, we know all who started the arms race, israel in 1960s. Dimona.

Bit late to start worrying about that, isn't it? If you want a nuclear-free ME, you know where to start...

BTW, Shavit's jab at BB in the last paragraph is ironic, because Shavit doesn't realize that BB is successfully handling the Palestinians and the Israeli Left. He's not trying to please either of these two segments, but rather to make sure that they do not make political gains. If you realize BB's goal as you do with the case of Iran, you realize that he's making the right counter-moves. Note how Abbas is trying to climb down from the September statehood tree, while the Left has been reduced to criticizing the cost of cottage cheese. And unlike 1999, when the Israeli public was still naive enough to buy the "Israeli is stuck" marketing gimmick, the majority won't fall for it next time around - which is why BB got back into office, after all. Oslo and Disengagement both failed, so now the majority is looking for a leader who will negotiate from strength and not weakness, because most Israelis now realize that just like in the shuk, the willingness to wait for the other side to capitulate to one's redlines is the only way to get a fair deal.

According to Mossad, Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb before 2015 (due to the virus attack, and to correction of past Israeli exaggerations). A lot can happen. First, Ahmadinejad will no longer be President. Second, the Chief Ayatollah is reportedly suffering from some serious medical problem, and might not be around. There is plenty of time for another round of sanctions to bite. My suggestion: The Security Council should decide that any supply of nuclear fuel to Iranian power/research plants (by Russians or others) should be paid for by an equivalent amount of Iranian Uranium, first enriched and then even raw. Iran does not have much Uranium, and is looking around even TODAY for a seller, so this exchange plan will bring an end to their enrichment program. Problem solved.