What if Iran did get the bomb? What if Iran already has the bomb? Peacenik would be happy if no one had the bomb. But the bomb exists. And so far MAD (mutually assured destruction) seems to work. Peacenik thinks there is a lot of hypocrisy about the bomb. Neo cons are using the bomb to drum up support for a war that they have wanted for over 30 years. Just today there is another fear mongering story about Iran and the bomb. It was George Bush who unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Peacenik says it is time to grow up and deal with reality. Engage Iran. And get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
BY ROBERT FARLEY | JULY 7, 2009
The political survival of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has moved the question of Iran's nuclear program back to the center of U.S. diplomacy. Iran, it is argued, cannot be allowed to build nuclear weapons because its leaders say crazy things, wear funny hats without ties, and believe that God will reward them with virgins and whatnot for consuming friendly countries in a nuclear firestorm. Iranians, in short, are so different, weird, and threatening that they cannot be trusted with the bomb. Fortunately, no such state has ever successfully developed nuclear weapons...except for the People's Republic of China (PRC). And this historical analogy holds a highly relevant lesson for today.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the PRC embarked on a crash program to develop nuclear weapons, ultimately testing a device successfully in October 1964. Even its own allies believed China's communist leaders to be reckless and dangerously casual about the threat of nuclear war. The regime's ideology precluded the notion of an afterlife (and thus of eternal damnation), and its leaders had demonstrated a willingness to kill millions upon millions of their fellow citizens in the service of utopian goals. (Also, Mao conspicuously refused to wear a tie.) There was every reason to believe that the Chinese leader could push the button without remorse.
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