"My name is Khamenei, and I'm building a nuclear weapon. . . ."

He's signing on to a 9-step program to treat his addiction.   The problem?   Steps one through eight consist of the West's reversing the economic sanctions that have led to a currency crisis and riots in Teheran.   Step nine is "a 'suspension' of the medium-enriched uranium production at the deep underground site called Fordow."

We should jump on that deal.

7 comments:

Grim said...

Those sanctions probably are more of a problem for the average Iranian than they are a challenge to the building of a bomb. Iran's people may suffer, but the nuke research proceeds apace.

E Hines said...

I agree with Grim on this. The Iranian government isn't motivated by the same things Westerners, or our governments, are. And the pain threshold for the Iranian government is entirely outside what we're used to--including what it is that causes them pain in the first place.

The only way to stop this regime from using a nuclear weapons capability is to destroy the regime. Even destroying their nuclear facilities will only push that string down the road--they'll just keep trying.

Eric Hines

Gringo said...

Let the sanctions continue. The mullahs have not earned any trust over the last 3 decades.

NYT link fixed.

bthun said...

Agreed on the sanctions point.

Unless the population rebels against the government/mullahs I do not see any good ending.

On the other hand, that lack of a good ending may be due to my stuck in the mud practical/pragmatic genetic predisposition depriving my imaginative self.

Texan99 said...

As hard as life under sanctions may be for Iranian citizens, war would be harder.

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?ID=286842&R=R1

bthun said...

"As hard as life under sanctions may be for Iranian citizens, war would be harder."

Agree with that too. Little else could be harder on a population save a plague. And one that is comparable to the Black Death, i.e. one beyond the understanding of the current knowledge set to fight before [tens/hundreds of] millions perish.

At least in as much as my limited imagination can see.

douglas said...

It seems that the discomfort the sanctions are causing may have started to push some of the more conservative (read peripheral supporters of the revolution) to be unhappy with the regime- they're reading the sanctions not as an unjustness from the West, but as the policies of the Mullahs getting in the way of what's important to the average Iranian- making a living.

This still might work. At least I'm hoping so. Not holding my breath though.