How do we know what the Iranian nuclear program is? One of the big claims is that they are hiding things. Well it turned out Saddam was using bluster to cover up for his weakness. How do we know this isn't the case in Iran?

Why is the west making it so difficult for Iran to build up its nuclear power capabilities? Could it be that we are trying to provoke them into doing or saying something which can then be used as an excuse for military intervention?

The US has a long history of doing this. "Remember the Maine" and the Gulf of Tonkin incident are only two of the most well-known. But the US invaded Granada(!) on the basis of fake information too.

The US wants the theocrats in Iran overthrown. Whether this is because of geopolitical reasons or because of the Christian Messianism so popular in the current administration or because we just want to control their oil the objective is the same.

We played the same game of chicken with North Korea. What we got for it was five years of tension, the improvement of their weapons technology and, at best, a return to the status quo ante.

So the first thing to do in any discussion is to evaluate the credibility of the existence of a nuclear weapons program. Even if Iran might say it is developing such a weapon Iraq shows that this type of talk can't be taken at face value. Without real intelligence information fear mongering and the desire to start another fight are determining the direction of discussion.

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape