--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> You gotta wonder how much Iran's lust for The Bomb
> is for domestic
> consumption, as a distraction from the regime's
> economic problems.
> The Islamists have long relied on anti-imperialism
> to consolidate
> their rule:
>
>
<http://www.marxisme.dk/arkiv/harman/1994/prophet/ch08.htm>
Well, foreign quarrels are an old distraction from domestic troubles; In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Pt II, Act 4. Scene 5, the dying King Henry gives Prince Hal this sage advice:
Therefore, my Harry, Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, May waste the memory of the former days. More would I, but my lungs are wasted so That strength of speech is utterly denied me. How I came by the crown, O God, forgive; And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
-- later landing the nasty little sprout at Agincourt and giving us Henry V (the play) and some nice set piece pro-militarist speeches.
But literary references aside, if you were the Iranian government, wouldn't you want the bomb? You look West, towards Iraq, where Saddam failed to acquire WMD, and the US has invaded and occupied the country and laid it waste. You look East, to North Korea, which got a primitive simple little bomb without even much of a delivery system, and Washington is all smiles and soothing noises. What conclusion do you draw from these object lessons?
I hasten to say that I do not endorse the Iranian's desire for nuclear weapons. But it seems quite comprehensible.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com