President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is making a statement. In fact, he’s been making statements for quite some time now. Despite repeated warnings from other countries, Iran continues to develop its nuclear program and test fired missiles that have the capability of reaching Israel, among other Middle Eastern states.
Why Is Iran So Dangerous?
My disclaimer to this is that I don’t have the time or space to explore all the issues in the Middle East. Frankly, we could write books and books and still probably not cover all the bases. However, the BIG issue that everyone is talking about is that Iran remains committed to the extinction of Israel (making a clear point to note that its missile capabilities could reach and wipe out Israel entirely) and we are allies with Israel. In simplistic terms, consider Israel our little brother. We buy them stuff, and we stick up for them against other bullies. In fact, so strong are our ties that if Israel decided to attack Iran, Iran has said it would consider it an act of war from the United States.
What really is crucial here, for this blog though, is the response to the Iranian missiles by the White House and the presumptive presidential nominees. If you want a good picture of international relations under the next president–pay close attention.
The White House
Condoleezza Rice, while in Georgia (the country–not the state), has said that, “we will not back down from our commitment to our allies in Israel and we will continue to protect American interests.” You can assume this means that we will enforce sanctions and hopefully those will be seen as incentives by Iran and they’ll stop playing war. But there’s one little problem–sanction Iran too much–and they’ll cut off access to the canal through which 40% of the world’s oil is shipped.
John McCain
John McCain, I thought, was very clear: we must impose sanctions and we must impose them as soon as is humanly possible. No wiggle room on this–we have to get Iran to stop tinkering with nuclear weapons. It has to be a top priority for the security of our nation.
Barack Obama
Obama said the same thing–sort of. He agrees that we need to impose sanctions–particularly economic sanctions on Iran so that they will be persuaded to see the light. But he differs sharply from the current policy as well as from Senator McCain in his ideas of “aggressive diplomacy.” I believe, that would be the euphemism for meeting with Iranian leaders on their terms. He also points out that we want to avoid provocation and has sharp criticism for the current administration’s handling of the Middle East.
Which policy are you in favor of?
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