That Edgy Luncy Factor
The world has enough volatile areas of the globe where nations are forever disrupting the balance of their civil and civic temperance and responsibility in succumbing to the primitive lure of confronting a purported enemy. Sometimes disagreements can be resolved through mediation, sometimes low-grade wars erupt and citizens of both countries become, as is usual, deathly fodder for the piqued feelings of insult of their leaders.And sometimes the world snaps to attention, puts the brakes on whatever humdrum notice is being devoted to the ordinary everyday, and shudders in unison at the prospect of two nuclear-armed countries like Pakistan and India trading insults and accusations and rumbling about putting an end to the accusations and assaults. Not a pretty prospect for the faint-hearted among us, to contemplate nuclear annihilation.
If it can happen between two countries both of which can boast reasonably sane leadership - although the scale hangs more heavily on the balance side of sanity for India than it does for Pakistan, whose leadership appears to enjoy Russian roulet - then think of the potential for disaster to strike when the leader of a nuclear-armed country confronts another in a shared geography who appears to be immune to reason, beset with the certainty that his aggression is the infallible decision of his god.
When it comes to bombastic posturing surely the countries of the Middle East deserve the prize for accomplishment in expertly sharpening their abilities for grandiose and threatening rhetoric to a fine art. And none appear to have developed that art to the delicate cut-and-thrust finish, to challenge the reigning monarch of the art, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.
Oh well, scratch that. Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken lessons from Iran's supreme leader, and he has proven an outstanding pupil, much to the satisfaction of his teacher. Naturally belligerent, Ahmadinejad has taken to the creative technique of accusation, opposition, threat and spectacular displays of spleen-venting, to a fault. The man's a brilliant mountebank, a true natural, born to the frothing technique.
Iran has posted photographs demonstrating just how serious they are about their nuclear ambitions, and just how vulnerable they claim the United States and its devilish ally, Israel, are to the wrath of Shia Iran, should they continue their unsupportable provocations. Those deadly, powerful missiles that Iran's supreme leader authorized the Revolutionary Guard to launch painted the picture of the threat promising to become reality.
Oh dear, what's that they say? The photographs were faulted imagery, they were doctored? Say it isn't so! Iran's state thugs guilty of outright fabrication, corruption of reality? Never! Moreover, the promise that the Shahab-3, Iran's most developed, deadliest deliverer of a nuclear head is unlikely to deliver? "This is typical of Iran to exaggerate the accomplishments of the missiles and its nuclear program", according to one of many experts in the field. How utterly devastating.
This rank disbelief in Iran's promise to deliver what it promises is most unfortunate. Does it mean that Iran's spokespeople have been shamed, silenced, denounced as frauds? The battle hardened and feared Revolutionary Guard, after all, has the potential to bring disaster down on the heads of the country's enemies, so take care. According to their commander-in-chief "The ... manoeuvre brings power to the Islamic Public of Iran and is a lesson for enemies".
Hear that, you shuddering weaklings and wither.
Iran threatens to hit Israel where it counts, in the guts of their own nuclear installations. To attack American interests, including troops stationed in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. To close down shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, their oil-transit bailiwick - and they initiated impressive naval manoeuvres, launching a high-speed torpedo to prove they mean business, business meaning foreign ships are legitimate targets.
You don't mess with Iran, that nuclear visionary country. The West may claim Iran's leaders to be delusional, but reality is they plan to pursue their agenda and in so doing push the world to the edge of nuclear suspense. Oops, wait a minute: what's this about Russia ordering the U.S. to drop its missile shield plans, to be installed on its borders, on the premise - no, the reality, that this week's Iranian missile tests were evidence the firepower is absent from the wordpower?
Now that's downright irritating, bordering on gross unfair malignancy; when a staunch and hitherto supportive ally - to the point of selling the latest armaments, assisting with its nuclear installations, protects from UN sanctions - affirms the failure that Iran denies. As one belligerent power bent on wreaking havoc on the world stage to another, one might hardly anticipate such betrayal; quite devastating. Is no one to be trusted for support, any more?
Et tu, Vladimir/Dmitry?
Well, there's always Venezuela, North Korea, Libya, China and Sudan to offer condolences and support.
Labels: Science, Societal Failures, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 12, 2008
<< Home