What Does a War with Iran Mean?

I don’t want to alarm you or anything — well, actually, I do want to alarm you, albeit not unduly. I want to share something with you, a little news item that just came over the wires:

An Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites may become likelier in 2012 if Israel calculates it has more room to act alone in a U.S. presidential election year, a former U.S. official and nuclear diplomacy expert said.

Mark Fitzpatrick, an Iran watcher at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, told Reuters the latest report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog made him more worried that Iran was closer to mastering how to use nuclear power as a weapon.

“When you consider that next year being the U.S. presidential election year, and the dynamics of politics in the United States, this could increase Israel’s inclination to take matters into its own hands,” Fitzpatrick said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might not necessarily ask President Barack Obama for permission to mount a strike, Fitzpatrick said, if Israel believed Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon or place one in a site out of reach. Netanyahu said on Sunday Iran was closer to getting an atomic bomb than had been thought.

“The most likely possibility is that Mr. Netanyahu calls up Obama and says: ‘I’m not asking for a green light, I’m just telling you that we’ve just launched the planes, don’t shoot them down,’” Fitzpatrick said. “And in a U.S. presidential election year, I think it’s unlikely that Obama would shoot them down.”

Think of what a war with Iran would mean: a regional war that would send oil prices shooting to over $200 a barrel, a worldwide economic meltdown of already shaky markets, huge losses of U.S. troops still in Iraq, an increased threat of terrorism directed at America, and the potential for a humanitarian catastrophe.

Is this our impending fate?

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23 thoughts on “What Does a War with Iran Mean?”

  1. It would mean a lot more than 200 0r even 300 dollar a barrel oil. An attack on Iran would mean an Attack on EVERY Ship in the Gulf. How many Oil Tankers would be gone. Israel wouldnt fare to well either. Nukes are not needed and if I was a Mad Mullah I would hurt the Israelies in a way that would hurt them MORE than ten thousand dead, more than twenty thousand dead I would target the Wailing Wall. Or maybe I wouldnt do anything, If the Israelies Bomb the Iranian Nuclear Power Reactor full of Russians I would just sit back and Watch the Russians take out Israel, they have repeatedly Warned Israel about killing Russian Nationals. That Russian warships are steaming to that part of the Mediteranean isnt all about Syria. Think back Russia made a Law that said any attack on a Russian National willbe dealt with swiftly, now think back to the Russian Ship that was attacked by Pirates near the Horn of Africa. Lots of dead Africans. An Attack by Israel literally could be the beginning of WWIII.

    1. When there are so many madder people on the western side, please refrain from calling the mullahs mad.

  2. Well, fine, I get the oil price rise and the risk to US troops and increased likelihood of terrorism; they’re bad, really bad, but how can there be a ‘humanitarian’ disaster? Muslims are so memetically different to the rest of us that they cannot possibly be considered human.

  3. Some say history repeats itself. Others say it doesn't quite repeat itself as much as it delights in parallels and symmetries. All we need now is an administration who grants Israel a "blank check", like the one leading up to the events of 1914. Couple that with the tensions that Libya created for the Chinese (and that mother of all evacuations) and the pain the Russians are feeling over Syria. Then add to it the re-re-invasion of Africa, now with a black face and nobel peace prize. Throw in the frequent and disturbing propensity for Tickling The Atomic Dragon in Pakistan with random acts of Drone Strikes®. We're bombing a country that Reagan dedicated a shuttle launch to, and Rambo teamed up with in my youth. On top of that we insist on almost daily fascination with grabbing the Tiger by its tail in the Pacific region.

    All we need is some idiot to come along and toss a match onto it between now and 2014. You'll have your Great War again…this time it might not be so great.

  4. @Dr. P. Sword
    I now can completely understand the stupidity of western countries. “Muslims…. cannot possibly be considered human.”
    Yes so YOU are human, who invaded half of world killed millions of people here and there. and source of all problems all around world ,because of your national security!
    how well formed humanity it is!!
    you are calling more than 1 billion of people around the world nonhuman !
    so let your lunatic governments begin this war and thereafter you will consider what is more important than oil price!

  5. War with Iran – how about a one-word answer – Salamis.

    Huh? That's where, even though about half of Greece had surrendered and joined the Super-power – the Persian Empire – the other half decided they had to fight. It was a naval battle, and Persian expansion was stopped. The king and his army watched from the beach as the navy, upon which they depended for supply, sank and the sailors were murdered, if they made it to shore. They walked home, those that could.

    Stopping Persian expansion created the ground for the end of the Empire. Empires either expand or die.

    Does any Iranian not know this history? Does anyone inside the American elite?

  6. Reza, humans were once thought to be defined solely by their genes, and of course they are defined by their genes to a large extent, but we find now that the vast majority of our genes are shared with apes! What really makes us special, and set us apart from the apes, are our memes.

    Memes are behavioural characteristics, attitudes, beliefs (or lack of beliefs!), knowledge even, passed down from our parents and others. Humans have good memes; they can see that there is no god, and aren’t mentally crippled by other superstitions either. They are free from the mental chains that hold back the others – those which have not evolved very far from being apes – the ‘believers’.

  7. One very positive aspect to starting war with Iran might be that we will get lucky and either Russia or China would rain 3 or 4 nukes right down on top of the US Congress building while every one of those Israel lobby toe lickers were in session – and effectively END this treasonous foreign nation's deathgrip over America.

  8. @Dr.P.Sword
    If those who have these “memes” which you mean “not believers in god”, have any knowledge and have any moral , have to be intelligent enough to respect other creatures(even apes!) and their thought and their beliefs!
    Do you catch on?
    God bless Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection!
    which caused this kind of egotism.

    If you think all of this universe which is totally in harmony and symmetry have been randomly created and no one was involved in it’s creation,you are really not of those whom have memes!

    All of this great ,vast ,tremendous and enormous creation for NOTHING!! just a bunch of randomly emerged creatures!!!
    No goal!! No start!!! No end !!!
    If this is your thought, I’m telling you are not a agnostic you are a NIHILIST.

  9. dear P.Sward
    I read your poem and understood following as:
    1. You and more countries who want to start WAR with Iran have suppose Iran is a poor country and we can be win there but you and more people who are deciding about other countries are in mistakes because of you don’t know more Iranian’s ability in war.
    2. It is not true to be foreign of one country and decide about its government and social
    3. Iranian people and other people who are living there have problems but it is own problem and they will be solved by own also and no depends to other people.
    4. When you have faith to humanity you should know when your countries are attacking to other , there is more people live else
    Final result:
    Iran has more capabilities when its people and government will see one attack from other they will be allied .

  10. They've moved carrier group away from Iran coastal missile batteries that would liquidate carrier group and positioned group off syrian coast even as russian warships unload iskander anti-ship missiles in syria and russians place defense radars and strategic forces on alert. the trick is to force iran to obey the syrian/iranian mutual defense treaty and "attack" us forces, thus "justifying" a "counter-attack" against iran. it's obvious. the question now remains as to whether atropos or character will bring either conflict – possibly a suicidal conflict – or a retreat. very dangerous. russian and chinese an 'murkin fight ruins all.

  11. Taking the course of history from roughly 1648 to the present day it seems very probable that the russian state is resolved to stop the growth of non-russian hegemonic influence – and they mean to stop it in syria. a rational response is to back down. there is, however, little indication that such a logical response will take place. jfk was in a similar spot – he backed down and made a deal. and everybody knows what it cost him in dallas (and what it cost khrushchev). it comes down to character when there is no observation of moral custom. will barky obey and start a real war, or will he show some class? (bet on war, regional nuclear war) happy thanksgiving….

  12. You have forgotten Hezbollah's rockets aimed at the heart of Israel. After the 2006 war, Israel is no longer the invincible power.

  13. Reza, I’m an Atheist, not an Agnostic. Agnostics sit on the fence, either for fear of upsetting others or because they lack motivation. For your information, there is nothing more egotistical than a believer thinking that they are a personal friend of their particular deity.

    As an Atheist, I am not saying that there isn’t a god, it’s just that I have never seen a reason to believe in one, particularly not a man-made god like yours, so I don’t, and won’t be worried into it by those who do. In fact, If I did see your god appear in front of me, I would kill it for all the pain and suffering in the world. Oh, and by the way, there’s no need to shout!

    Rasel, that doesn’t make sense.

    psh, all Muslims are mad, by definition, mullahs included.

  14. Back to the question though:

    What Does a War with Iran Mean?

    Well, Assuming Iran hasn’t already made or acquired a nuke, I would consider it to mean a better chance of peace for a longer time. It is often said that if the Arabs (Muslims) were to lay down their weapons, there would be peace, but if the Israelis were to do that, there would be a massacre.

    Anyway, a war with Iran is not something I want, but wiping out their entire nuclear programme is definitely a good idea, and I want that to happen very much indeed. It would be nice to fry a few Mullahs too, whilst were at it! :)

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