Submitted by gc wall, Dec 27, 2006 23:54

The fact that a country sitting on one of the largest natural gas areas of the world, would want to preserve its natural resource for sale to the highest bidder is a sound business decision, seems to escape some writers on the subject. The fact that it makes sense to use alternative fuels instead of a quickly dwindling nonrenewable energy resource for a nation's security reasons also seems to escape them. Here we are back in the world where fear is marketed as a tool of manipulation to achieve certain political objectives that do not, at this point, require the level of hysteria being promoted in this article.

Mushroom clouds over New York City or Tel Aviv is an absurd notion considering that Iran is trying to position itself as a player in the region, because its leaders want it to survive and thrive. Therefore, Iran's leaders are no more likely to fire a couple of missiles at the United States than any other nation because of the devastating response. The U.S. would turn Iran into a contaminated sheet of glass with dead Iranians ubiquitous on the glazed landscape within less than an hour's time. A nation does not position itself for survival and business success just to turn around and commit a suicidal act.

The U.N. resolution is respectful of a nation's sovereignty while intruding on that sovereignty in subtle yet meaningful ways. This writer should harbor nor sell fear, because the resolution is a first step that can be amended or discarded as the situation requires. While Iran's leaders are most likely as devious as our own, they also are humans who would choose survival over death. The doors to the U.N. did not close, and the discussion continues. The U.S. would be wise to give the resolution a chance, but remain acutely aware that Iran is not our friend and has no incentive to be honest with the rest of the world. What is disturbing is Russia and China positioning themselves as allies instead of the U.S. doing so; it is a mistake worse than the current U.N. resolution.

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