Ferguson runs through 5 arguments why Israel should not attack Iran, and why he thinks they’re wrong.
‘1. The Iranians would retaliate with great fury, closing the Strait of Hormuz and unleashing the dogs of terror in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq.
2. The entire region would be set ablaze by irate Muslims; the Arab Spring would turn into a frigid Islamist winter.
3. The world economy would be dealt a death blow in the form of higher oil prices.
4. The Iranian regime would be strengthened, having been attacked by the Zionists its propaganda so regularly vilifies.
5. A nuclear-armed Iran is nothing to worry about. States actually become more risk-averse once they acquire nuclear weapons.’
Click through for the responses. He finishes with:
‘War is an evil. But sometimes a preventive war can be a lesser evil than a policy of appeasement. The people who don’t yet know that are the ones still in denial about what a nuclear-armed Iran would end up costing us all.
It feels like the eve of some creative destruction.’
Related On This Site: Sachs and Niall Ferguson duke it out: CNN-Fareed Zakaria Via Youtube: ‘Jeff Sachs and Niall Ferguson’
Adam Garfinkle At The American Interest: ‘Remember Libya?’
From Reflections Of A Rational Republican: ‘Are Airstrikes Imminent In Iran?’…From Reflections Of A Rational Republican: ‘Will Israel Attack Iran This Spring?’
Walter Russell Mead At The American Interest: ‘Iran: Keeping The World’s Oddest Couple Together’…Materialism and Leftism Paul Berman On Bloggingheads: The Left Can Criticize Iran
ferguson needs to consider if the Russian have not already prewarned the US to stay out of it… Russias own defence may well start in Iran
Richard, thanks for reading and commenting.
Well, they surely won’t like the US meddling so close…
They are still trying to fill their former footprint but generally don’t have the ability to do so.
Every day brings new speculation as to the timming of the Israeli strike…the pressure for the Zionist to do so seems to have an ever increasing momemtum… it appears self driven rather than Iran ramping up the pressure…one might assume Israel can afford tthis.. being nuclear armed allows such luxuries…
Perhaps the retaliation when it comes, will be totally inadequate.. or maybe Iran has the ability to shock and rock Israel with hammer blows..
much depends on what the US will do…I for one hope that Russia has enough muscle to keep the US out… and allow for the 2 combatants to fight to the finish.
Well, I don’t hope for those outcomes at all.
Putin is weak, and so is Russia relative to its former self, and it’s trying to relive its old days and empire. Putin needs to find an enemy or distraction and quick to save his skin. I don’t think they have the muscle, but they and China (natural resources) could free ride on U.S. security and involvement, and pick up the pieces.
I don’t think a war profits either side, nor the U.S., and it could get out of hand quickly. This is why the US (and frankly the world) has some interest in Iran not getting nuclear capabilities, but the US has some allies and maybe a friend or two (Israel and Great Britain) but few European countries will get involved. I don’t know how much control we have over Israel, especially when protecting its sovereignty.
In the U.S. we have neoconservatism (a foreign policy focusing on human rights but using military action to do so and to promote and secure US interests) petering out at the moment, a further Left president seeking aggressive humanitarianism (human rights but with much less military action) and a very divided, partisan politics.
It does seem like things are ramping up due to the logic of the situation.