Iran is provocative. U.S. and Israel, not so much.
July 9, 2008 at 1:09 pm by Andisheh Nouraee in Don't PanicIran test-fired several ballistic missiles today. The event prompted the following headline from Reuters:
When Israel rehearsed air strikes on Iran last month, this was the headline:
The U.S. has two carrier battle groups within striking range of Iran and is currently holding exercise of Iran’s southern coast. Here’s the Reuters headline for that:
So, you see, when two nuclear powers, the U.S. and Israel, rehearse preemptive military strikes on Iran, tensions are not heightened.
When Iran test-fires nine missiles, tensions are heightened.
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July 9th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
perceptions are different possibly becasue of that whole “wipe the Jews off the map” foreign policy
July 9th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I’m not suggesting Iran’s actions are not provocative, simply that the U.S. & Israel’s rhetoric and actions are at least equally as tension-heightening.
If the Iranian navy conducted exercises 12 miles off the coast from Pensacola, I would call that a tension-heightening action.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Israel is not our 51st state and needs to fend for itself. It continues to build in the West Bank. Iran does not build in land outside of Iran (but it could use a little in the way of tolerance).
Pakistan is the real concern in the Middle East, not Iran.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
To Mark M.:
I would suggest Iran could use more than “a little in the way of tolerance.” Israel treats the Palestinians with more tolerance than Iran does many of its own citizens (those that are not Muslim and male). I’m not absolving Israel, but to equate the two is reckless and dishonest.
Assume you’re a Iranian homosexual (not that any of them exist). Would you rather be in an Iranian prison or in Israeli custody? Same applies to a free-thinking woman.
Are you this understanding of Christian fundamentalists?
http://www.petertatchell.net/international/iranstatemurder.htm