Punch Up

I don't know anything about currencies so no. OTOH the Iran affair could
easily stretch out for 18 months I agree. One thing is absolutely
certain now though. Israel will not allow Iran to develop a functioning
enrichment plant. I'm fairly sure they will have under the counter
support from Saudi Arabia and Egypt for that.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

No chance. Not a snowballs chance in hell. As pointed out recently (by
me) Egypt has recognised Israel as a state, but it doesn't mean that
they like the fact (as pointed out by somebody else). Saudi? They
haven't recognised the state of Israel. What would they have to gain by
supporting a country they don't recognise?

 

I didn't suggest they would fall in love with Israel, I was stating they
have no love for Iran and it's revolution and would happily see it gone.

 

They hate the Israelis more than the Iranians.

 

Well I think the Administrations probably see Iran and it's brand of
Fundamentalism as direct threats to the form of their Nations. Israel
poses no such threat. Recall that Egypt tries to be rather secular and
SA has it's own state controlled brand of fervour. Egypt has
surprisingly cordial relations with the USA (1) (2) and SA probably more
so. Jordan and the smaller Emirates and Kuwait likewise.

(1)
www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/International_Relations/egypt_amrica/317joint_statement.htm
(2) Remember Suez!!!

Nope, I reckon that toppling the Islamic State in Iran to be replaced by
a secular administration like Turkey, Egypt and (in future) Iraq is a
pretty popular idea thereabouts.

 

For the love of everything that's decent the posessive pronoun is "its".

 

Do you carefully proof read your usenet posts? the odd feral is bound
to escape otherwise

 

Two is not an odd number.

But no, it's for other pedants to read mine, I'm not going to take
their fun away.

 

Hmmm....toppling the regime in Iraq doesn't seem to have worked to plan so
enthusiasm for a similar approach to Iran might be rather limited. Last
time that was tried it didn't work too well either. The democratically
elected president of Iran (Moussadeq) was overthrown by an American inspired
and supported coup and the pro-USA Shah installed in his place. The Iranian
people finally deposed the Shah by supporting Khomeini and the Islamic
revolution. Basically, a democratic, non-secular state was converted to an
Islamic republic by precisely this kind of external interference so
enthusiasm for further meddling might be a bit limited. Then you have to
consider that Egypt, Saudi Arabia Jordan and most other of the USA's buddies
are not democracies (the USA's enthusiasm for democracy is VERY limited) and
are quite vulnerable themselves to external interference and internal
uprising so blatant messing about in the internal affairs of other countries
in the region would be a very high risk strategy for them.

 

Champ wrote

Were I a gambling man I would lay mine down beside yours and invite Hog
to cover both of us.

 

TMack wrote

Well who says? To this very day the direct result of our intervention
in Iraq is to set off raghead against raghead. Give it a year or so and
most of the nutters will have killed each other off. Saves us putting
them in prison for the rest of our lives and all that other expensive
winner-of-the-war shit.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, steve auvache

Are you channelling BGN?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer As featured in
Performance Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

If you were a real gambler you'd lay down & invite BGN to cover you.

 

Wicked Uncle Nigel wrote

If by that you mean burying 60 feet down under the cold dark waters of
the English Channel, thought never occurred. But now you mention it....

 

platypus wrote:

But given how difficult Hizbolla have found hitting a city in a desert,
I'm not sure how likely it is they could hit a ship in an ocean.

Oh, they have a guided ones too?

 

steve auvache wrote:
I would lay mine down beside yours and invite

Mind bleach please.

 

Remember the feared Republican Guard? The Mother of All Battles? The
thousand or so enemy tanks and their large airforce?

The small but effective Israeli defence force should not be confused for
what we ranged against Saddam and what would be ranged against Iran. If
Bush/Blair decided to take them down to the stone age then that is where
they will shirly go. No need for a ground offensive.

Anyway, if anyone thinks that Hizbolla have scored some kind of victory
have a scan at the infrastructure damage the Israelis inflicted in just
a few days, all on their own. They knocked Lebanon back 50 years while
suffering nothing more than a few scorch marks on own territory. Looking
past the bluster I am sure the nutters in Iran are actually looking
around and thinking "Ooops, fookin' ell". Iran has done a decent job of
building some infrastructure this past 50 years under the Shah and
Khomeni, set back some of course by the WWI type war with Saddam. If
they were wrecked now I doubt whether they could claw it back before the
oil runs out. They could loose the power grid, every power station. all
the urban water supplies, all the bridges, the airports and the main
roads and most of their military/industrial complex.

 

Oh come now, Egypt is trying pretty hard. The others are moving slowly
along, including the Saudi's. It will take time, it took Britain *quite*
a long time FFS. You can't change hundreds of years of monarchy in a
single decade.

 

I am happy to admit I took the most optimistic possible option

 

.... there are quite few Israeli politicians who do:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4790681.stm

"all on their own?" What planet are you on? When it comes to military
power, for "Israel" read "the USA".

And what have you got against Iran FFS? The fact that they don't share
GWB's views?? Have you ever met any Iranians? Against the history, and
civilization of Iran/Persia, the British Empire (of which I for one am
proud, BTW) pales into a blip.

The enemy is Bush [not the USA], and the poisonous reptiles who surround
him. If Blair were to walk away from Bush now, it would shift the whole
balance of world politics. The extremists on both sides - in all
theatres - would have the rug pulled from under them, and the respective
majorities, who are people of good will, would be able to make some
progress.

And you would change your views about Iran.

And now Hymn No 267....

Rev. John

BTW: have you ever thought what views _you_ would hold, if you'd been
born in Palestine / Iraq / Iran / Syria? Go on -- have a think.