Saturday 18 February 2012

Wag the Dog? Being forced to war on a timetable


There seems to be the terrifying prospect of Israel and/or the West engaging in another war in the Middle East before the year is out. The 'window' apparently is the summer or just after the US election. When the British government gets hawkish, you know you're in trouble. William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary is waffling on about a new 'cold war' today, while the Guardian reports Obama insiders saying "the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so", surely a case of the tail wagging the dog if ever there was one.

Personally, I don't see that one sovereign state trying to develop weapons that other sovereign states already have can ever be a provocation for war, however much we might wish they don't have them. You can only argue that it is 'provocation' if you believe that Iran is somehow less of a state than the rest of us, and that we have a say in its internal affairs ... and that has a million uncomfortable implications. But that's not an argument you'll see coming even from progressives.

Finally, as with Iraq, I don't believe that Iran is much of a threat to anyone, except its own people ... a judgement this article seems to support.

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