In a sense, sure, but Iran has had a secret nuclear program for twenty years. Undemocratic, internally unpopular regimes with lots of external enemies - Iran and North Korea come to mind, as does South Africa in a previous incarnation - want to acquire nuclear weapons as a last ditch effort to hold onto power. Foreign Affairs covered this subject with respect to Iran last Fall.
The downfall of the "nukes as a defense to prop up the regime" strategy is that it does nothing to prevent unrest from within the country, because you can hardly nuke your own country, even as a last resort. Iran needs to learn the lessons of the Soviet Union. On 4/19/06, Vivec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hmm..some interesting thoughts on this topic: > > http://tinyurl.com/fb323 > > ["I don't think we ever would have used them but, nevertheless, the > Iraqis didn't know that and we could have if the provocation was > serious," retired Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of > Staff during this period, told PBS Frontline in 1995. In other words, > Iraq's pursuit of WMD was never irrational and our ambiguous resort to > nuclear weapons probably contributed to Iraqi thinking with regard to > their needs. I conclude from this that ambiguity can lead to > proliferation. Our nuclear policy is part of the problem."] > -- --------------- Robert Munn www.funkymojo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:204798 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
