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Understanding the Iranian Threat

[Jerusalem Post] Barry Rubin - Why should Iran having nuclear weapons bother you? Appeasement. Frightened by Iran's possession of nuclear weapons and uncertain of Western protection, Arabic-speaking states will rush to meet Iran's demands. They will be afraid to cooperate with U.S. policy or provide facilities for Western efforts to contain Iran. Given Iran's rejectionist stance, no Arab state, or the Palestinian Authority, would dare move toward peace with Israel. Intoxicated with a belief that Islamism is on the march to victory, tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands will join radical Islamist groups, either clients of Iran or independent ones. It is quite conceivable that even if the Iranian government makes no decision to give nuclear weapons to terrorists, super-extremist elements in the regime will do it on their own. Even if Iran never uses nuclear weapons to make mushroom clouds, it will quite effectively use them to gain strategic and economic leverage. The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center at IDC Herzliya.
2007-11-12 01:00:00
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