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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (82856)	11/2/2004 5:26:16 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793818

I don't think Moslem countries would necessarily use their nuclear bombs. I don't think so, either, but there are imaginable circumstances under which I can see passion taking over logic. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? Recent history has shown that the US and the USSR were closer to using them than anyone ever thought. Ditto the 1973 Arab/Israeli war. If relatively rational and unemotional Russians and Americans can get close to a flash point, can't you imagine circumstances under which the volatile folks inhabiting the ME could pull a nuclear trigger? I certainly can. The problem is a religious one, unfortunately. Islam is at the core undergoing a fundamentalist revival fueled by a couple of factors. First, the delusion that Jihad is responsible for bringing down the Soviet Union because of its defeat in Afghanistan is alive and well, and a core part of Jihadi lore. Secondly, the US is perceived as a paper tiger, ready to fall like the USSR fell once the appropriate economic terror is applied to the right nodes. Then, the new Caliphate can begin, after all the various despots and tinpots are kicked out of governments in which Muslims make the bulk of the populace. After that, the conquest of the world can begin anew. Lepanto was merely a breather in the war. The conditions are finally ripe for the Final Push. It's all superbly delusional, of course. Not even a crackhead Hollywood screenwriter for C movies could come up with a plot as outrageous as the current thinking motivating the Wackiristani jihadis. But it's true, Mq., and they're going to do a lot of damage unless they're stopped. The question, of course, is how do you stop the Wackiristanis. Do we have the resources to stop them by economic and cultural persuasion or is our only recourse military? Damned if I know. The question is certainly the basis for a lengthy and interesting discussion. But I will tell you this: If the US and the Soviets, presumably more or less rational actors, were close to nuclear war in 1962 and 1973, then the prospects of Wackiristanis with nukes scares the bejesus out of me, regardless of whether they are clothed with national sovereignty or are rats hiding in caves.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (82856)	11/2/2004 5:38:08 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793818

I don't think Moslem countries would necessarily use their nuclear bombs. Nor would they necessarily want to give them to Islamic Jihad people, who might cause a LOT of trouble which wouldn't be a good idea for many people. Stable westernized countries are not a problem when they have nukes. Unstable ones are. That is why I don't worry about China/India/Israel/Russia with a bomb. That is why North Korea/Pakistan are a worry. We have one radicalized Muslim country, run by it's priests, that is getting a bomb. That is Iran. Iran with a bomb is a major, major, worry.