What do you mean, "we", Kimosabe?

Guardian:

"We" could live with a nuclear Iran

Pre-emptive strikes have no part in serious debate. We must deal with the clerics as self-interested statesmen, not fanatics

One consequence of Iran's disputed presidential election is that President Obama's best-case scenario for dealing with the nuclear issue can now be dismissed. This envisaged a reformist victory and a new Iranian government willing to stop short of turning Iran into the world's 10th nuclear weapons state. The scale of opposition protest suggests that change will come, but it may arrive later rather than sooner. In the meantime we are faced with an insecure conservative regime that hopes to shore up its fragile position by exaggerating the external threat and making national security the defining issue of domestic politics. This is not a promising basis for compromise.

These risks are compounded by the apparent urgency of the situation. Although Iran's intentions and capabilities are hotly disputed and difficult to gauge, most analysts agree that it is close to achieving a nuclear "breakout" capability, whether it plans to build an actual weapon or not. That is why Obama has timetabled next month to take stock of the offer he made in March for a new relationship with Iran based on dialogue and "mutual respect". The lack of any positive signal from Tehran in the next few weeks is likely to trigger an American move to tighten international sanctions in an effort to dissuade the Iranian leadership from going any further down the nuclear path.

Waiting impatiently in the wings is a new, hardline Israeli government that regards a nuclear-armed Iran as the only outcome it is unwilling to tolerate. In his campaign statements, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, adopted an uncompromising stance: "I promise that if I am elected, Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out." All options, including a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear installations, are therefore considered a price worth paying to avert what Netanyahu characterises as an "existential threat". Israeli officials measure the limit of their patience in months rather than years.

Netanyahu knows that Obama would not support an Israeli military operation, which is why he will not repeat the mistake of his predecessor by asking for permission. It took Bush eight years, but he finally got something right when he told Ehud Olmert to back off. What even he couldn't ignore is the serious instability and damage to western interests that a move of this kind would invite: a renewed upsurge of anti-American feeling across the Middle East sending moderate allies scuttling for cover; a further wave of terrorist violence and a new lease of life for al-Qaida; the targeting of allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq; and perhaps weighing heaviest of all, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and an oil price spike that would tip recession into depression

READ IT ALL
WHY IS DELUSION OVER THESE ENEMIES OF ALL FREE MEN DOMINANT?

GUARDIAN:"Some point to President Ahmadinejad's statement that Israel should "disappear from the page of time" as a reason to view Iran differently. But no one seriously imagines that his finger would be on the nuclear button. Military command and control is the prerogative of the clerical elite, which more than anything is concerned with preserving its own power structure. Even anti-Zionist posturing is rationally grounded in Iran's desire to increase its regional clout despite the limitation of being a non-Arab state."

................................................................................................................................

PM:"We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analyzing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot believe that such a program would be rejected...., even if it does mean the establishment of personal contact with the dictators."

..................................................................................................................................

Mario Puzo : "Fools die"