Albert Schweitzer 10 Posted January 20, 2006 Yesterday I was invited to my brothers home for a short dinner and we slipped into a long discussion about the potential conflict with Iran. We realised how multi-faceted the entire issue is. After the dinner I went home to check online what people here had written so far about it.Maybe I missed something but I was astonished to see that noone so far had opened a thread on this topic yet. Leaving the thesis of Nostradamus aside I believe that the world will not get around a military conflict with Iran. And considering the current, especially cultural, unstability in the islamic world, such a war would have the potential to infect the entire middle East. Do do you believe there are any options still left to get around it? Also, lets not forget the global importance of oil. China, the ever growing market, might be willing to trade weapons in oder to secure the goodwill of future suppliers. Hwo would be the first to strike? Israel? But who will govern Israel by that time anyway? What about the US? Are they capable to stress their national budget and manpower even more ? Will radical muslims finally decide to strike regularily in european countries? How will the world markets react, if OPEC is out of order? Lots of questions and worth to discuss about! To start this thing off, there are questions you could respond to? 1) Which alternative options to a military conflict are there 2.) who will strike first? 3.) What will a western coalition consist of? 4.) Which countries will be directly affected, which might "feel" culturally affected? 5) Impact on muslims living in Europe? 6) How will the world markets respond 7) What would be the human cost of this war? 8) Could it turn out to be final religious clash? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Messiah 2 Posted January 20, 2006 Personally I think any war with Iran would be potentially catestrophic. Afghanistan and Iraq were poor, badly armed countries during their invasions, their infrastructure was failing, and they had little hope standing up against the coalition forces. Iran is different. Its army is better trained, has higher numbers, better equipment and weapons. With the coalitions current deployment in Afghanistan and the headache of Iraq, i cant forsee an invasion of Iran any time soon, whatever the nuclear controvesy. It would be foolish to stretch our forces so thinly, and in such a heated arena - attacking what muslin radicals would deem a brother country, will cause more problems with the 'wests' relations with islamic countries and people across the world. I'd also be scepticle if the current coalition countries' governments will be so eager to deploy their troops after the Iraq fiasco, and what is currently occuring over there. Obviously just my opinions, but Iran is a much more powerful enemy compared to Iraq and Afganistan. I feel that also its government seems to be better organised and open minded, unlike the taliban and the dictatorship of Hussain, hence may be open to preventing sanctions and war by complying or finding a compromise to the current concerns expressed by the UN and the Atomic commision. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Placebo 31 Posted January 20, 2006 Until there is an Iran war this belongs in the Middle East Thread not in a seperate thread. I will merge later (or you can mirror your posts into there). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
