LOL Kevin. I agree with you.

Iran certainly is a problem. But, instead of arguing about whether it is a small, medium or large problem, why not have a discussion about how we handle it. I know that size does matter in determining the best solution, but not that much, unless they are going to be able to nuke someone in the next few months.

As for Zakaria’s article, I also think he’s playing down Iran’s ability to be disruptive too much. Whether it’s Ahmenijad or the Mullahs calling the shots, Iran is using oil money and proxies to destabilize things in the Middle East already. Adding nuclear weapons to that mix is a scary proposition because, at a minimum, it renders Iran “invasion proof� and it gives then the means to extort the West more effectively. The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany are poor comparisons because their aims were more immediate. Iran’s leaders are in it for the long haul.

I agree with the conclusion though. We can contain Iran if we’re patient. Responding to them with (empty?) threats only strengthens their position domestically and in the Islamic community.

We invaded Afghanistan to destroy the terror state there and to change the regime into a terror-fighting one. That would be impossible to do against a nuclear-armed Iran. They would be able to harbor a thousand Osama Bin-Ladens.

We can ignore Ahmadinajad when he says he would, “sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel,” or brush aside his apocalyptic ravings about how the messiah will come in 2 years. We can all play Justin’s game where we think we know more about Amad’s motivations than he does, but isn’t that just crossing your fingers?

Washington has a long habit of painting its enemies 10 feet tall�and crazy. During the cold war, many hawks argued that the Soviet Union could not be deterred because the Kremlin was evil and irrational. The great debate in the 1970s was between the CIA’s wimpy estimate of Soviet military power and the neoconservatives’ more nightmarish scenario.

There’s a one-paragraph cartoon history of the Cold War for you. I’m sure liberals find it instantly convincing because it paints the crazy neoconservatives as the villians. And everybody knows that the communists fell because the anti-Western left hugged them to death.

Iran does not even rank among the top 20 economies in the world.

Iran’s poverty and political instability, when combined with Islamism, make it more dangerous, not less. By the way, how does the economic power of the Iraqi insurgency stack up against ours?

If we could contain the Soviet Union, we can contain Iran.

This gets back to Zakaria’s fantasy history of the Cold War, which is totally false. Nobody ever accused the Soviets of wanting to unleash a nuclear weapon, or even of being irrational. Ahmenijad is exactly the nightmare that anti-proliferationists have been dreading all these years.

He’s right that diplomatic pressure can bring Iran around – unless people start soft-pedalling the vile Ahmenijad the way they did Saddam Hussein. Hussein could have been brought to heel if Europe and the UN had not flatly refused to do so, because he stroked their anti-Americanism. And their wallets.

ok, how about if we replace “because they’re crazy� with “because they are sincere religious people, who believe God is on their side and will protect them in their war against the Infidel, and even if they die, they are rewarded for dying in combat.�

What about the complete annilhilation of an entire country by nuclear strikes from the US, Israel, the UK, etc.? What about that? Are you telling me that Iran would seriously go through with its big talk even though they know it’ll bring down a firestorm on their heads?

So I have to wonder out loud: who is the real threat to the world?

Islamic extremists are the real threat. It’s true that our foreign policy decisions and execution of those plans don’t engender much faith, but please don’t confuse the two.

Oh, and there’s the little matter of how the US armed Saddam with chemical weapons and Rumsfeld was shaking his hands while he was busy gassing the Kurds….

So I have to wonder out loud: who is the real threat to the world?

Honestly, don’t assume that everyone in the world thinks the way you do…