What’s going on in Iran? Or not?
June 17, 2011, 1:31 pm
Posted by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
An alternative perspective to the views in the MSM: Continuing the question of Ahmadinejad’s power in Iran; the fraught relations between Iran and Syria; the threatened nuclear break-out or not; and the impact of sanctions. A short interview with Ray Takeyh at the Council on Foreign Relations. He also co-authored an op-ed piece in Wednesday’s Times, (June 17), too clever to be wholly coherent (bad editor!).
Yes, but the question of the hour is –
If the 51st State were to use aircraft in the suppression and destruction of air defenses in Iran, as well as precision strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles against a limited set of clearly defined nuclear facilities in Iran, with no troops on the ground, would that constitute “hostilities” against Iran?
Apparently not. Clearly it would be permissible for Israel to do so under the rules that have now been set in Libya, the response to which has been nothing but the sound of crickets chirping.
It all seems rather like watching a juggler’s knives spinning about in the air, out of the juggler’s control, defying the force of gravity, and wondering how and where they’ll hit the ground. Humans have only so much control over the lives of other humans.