Iran is making LEU (low enriched uranium), which is not bomb-grade material. They have agreed to more stringent oversight from the IAEA than the NPT requires. They have the right to develop nuclear energy.

Ahmadinejad does not have authority in defense issues. He never said anything about “wiping Israel off the map”. He said ‘the regime in Jerusalem will vanish from the pages of time’ (better translation, anyway), the way that the Soviet Union did. The Ayatollah has a long-standing fatwa against nuclear weapons. Iran hasn’t attacked anyone in 300 years.

All this hysteria is ridiculous, and I suspect it may have more to do with Israel’s chronic sense of victimization and feelings of entitlement to a pipeline from the Caspian through Georgia and Turkey, so they can sell oil back to Asia. You’ve got to see this on a map to appreciate the full gravity of the chutzpah here. The fact that one of the shortest routes for a pipeline from the Caspian Sea to a shipping lane would be through Iran might also be a factor in all this hysterical chest-beating.

It is the U.S. that is becoming isolated. McCain’s thinking is so dominated by the myths of American exceptionalism and military strength that he can be nothing but a danger to Americans and the rest of the world.

REALITY: Iran is not an existential threat to Israel or anyone else, unless Israel attacks them. There is no reason not to talk with Iranian leaders.

Ditto, Failin’ Palin; however, she does wink.

What remains to be discovered is whether she spits or swallows, though. Perhaps Katie can ask her in the next interview.

(I apologize in advance for spamming threads with this meme until someone in the conventional media world starts asking the question)

October 3rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
______

What for? It’s not like he’ll be admitted or anything. The BushCo-run VA will just give him a lollipop and tell him to “walk it off.”

samsuncle.. good point. Bush demonstrated that he is willing to invade any country of his choice IF the DON’T have nuclear weapons. North Korea was part of the Axis of Terrorism until they developed a nuclear weapon. Suddenly, Bush wanted to negotiate. With a nuclear armed Israel to the west and nuclear armed Pakistan and India to the east, one cannot blame Iran having an interest in nukes. Didn’t Palin say that nuclear weapons are deterrents?

You are a condescending, smarmy, snarky, grumpy senile old fart, and your VP is crib reading air head, phuck off.

The entire planet would be better served by such an investment, no doubt about it. But even nuclear is better than fossil fuels (including “clean” coal). But not by much, obviously due to the issue of “what the he** do we do now with the nuclear waste? And the reality is that any “Manhattan project-style alternative fuels development program is going to take massive investment by the government (i.e., the taxpayer). But I’d sure rather help pay for such a program than bail out a failed economic system or dump money into endless wars.

IFILL: You both have sons who are in Iraq or on their way to Iraq. You, Gov. Palin, have said that you would like to see a real clear plan for an exit strategy. What should that be, Governor?

PALIN: I am very thankful that we do have a good plan and the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that has proven to work….”

Okay, the surge was a ‘re-invasion’ of Iraq, not an exit strategy….so…doggone it, that also