How many Iranians do you know BTW Happy GUY?
Several dozen, both inside and out of Iran. If you count the Kurds in northern Iran as "Iranians" I know several hundred.
You are wrong to be so sanguine about China as well, remember the Iran - Iraq war, who armed Iran - China? And China is far more powerful now.
So a third world power armed another third world power with 1950s weaponry, big deal. I do consulting work for the US military, I know a little bit about the military capabilities of the countries you have mentioned.
China is not "far more powerful" now. Get a grip. Their air force wouldn't last two hours against the US Air Force. Without air cover the ground forces are toast.
Yes America can annihilate Iran, and?? What is the end goal?? The US can win ideologically much more easily than militarily.
I didn't say to annihilate Iran, I said to remove the nuclear capabilities, air force, and navy, and to remove the regime which committed an act of war against us when they invaded our embassy. Where did I say annihilate Iran? The end goal is the removal of the lunatics running Iran who are threatening the world with a war of genocide, and a removal of the nuclear capabilities that these lunatics are building.
I would agree that the US COULD win ideologically except that right now we have a Marxist Islamisist as our President and that ideology doesn't have very much appeal any more. So among our leaders where are the shining proponents of the freedom ideology that you are referring to? The current regime does not express that ideology.
Also, we may not have time to win the ideological battle and we are foolish to take that chance. There are no do overs in nuclear war.
The bellicosity of people like you encourage the hardliners.
LOL, dude now you are just being delusional. The hardliners came to power while dealing with that pu$$y Jimmy Carter. If singing Kumbaya and having group hugs was going to sway the opinon of the hardliners Jimmy Carter was the perfect person to prove that with. Unlike you I have lived and traveled widely in the Middle East. The Iranian hardliners do not respect people who want group hugs, they only respect power and fear those who show a willingness to use it. The hardliners are driven by an ideology that is bloodthirsty, callous, and wants all or nothing. They don't want to sit down and talk with you, they want to murder you.
Bellicosity? Let's see, our enemy has threatened a war of genocide if they attain nuclear weapons which they are urgently attempting to attain, and I say that they must be stopped before they launch their war, and I am the one that is being bellicose? And what of the people making these promises of genocide and striving to attain nuclear weapons? What are they? Tree huggers?
Obama should give more succor to moderates imo.
Yes, he should, but he isn't, so failing that, then what? We sit around and wait for the missiles to fall on our cities? Obama is never going to help the "moderates", he doesn't believe in the things they believe in, Obama is a Marxist Statist, he leans more to the side of the radical regime than he does the moderates.
you also are making a false assumption. You assume that these "moderates" want a western style government and want to be allied with or friends with the west. What if that isn't what they want? What if they just want a more moderate version of the radical state they have? What if they have no intention of becoming friends with the west? What if their objections are practical in nature, that they see that Iran will be a stronger state if the radicalism is toned down?
An insurrection is only successful because the insurrectionists are ready, willing, and able to suffer tremendous hardship in winning their insurrection. An insurrection can never succeed because any outside power wants it to, only the people fighting the insurrection can make it succeed. The Rumanians had ZERO outside support when they toppled Ceausescu in that mass demonstration on December 21. But, they had the will and the courage and the resolve to oust the hated dicatator. Can you say the same about the Iranians?
The Iranians have it in their power to oust the radicals. They did it before. Only Jimmy Carter allowed the Ayatollah Khomeni to steal their revolution. There isn't anything that the United States can do to give the Iranian people the will, the courage, and the resolve to topple their dictators. We can give moral support, yes, but ultimately that isn't going to matter.
You see, people in the Middle East do not trust the West, they have too many examples of their brethren standing up to tyrants after listening to promises from the West, only to be shot down like dogs in the street.
