[lbo-talk] more Harman

ravi gadfly at exitleft.org
Mon Aug 28 10:37:22 PDT 2006


At around 28/8/06 9:55 am, uvj at vsnl.com wrote:
> Michael Hoover wrote:
>
>> Iranian policymakers have articulated the above point, citing India
>> and Pakistan.
>
> India decided to develop nuclear weapons after Chinese test in 1964.
> India tested nuclear device in 70s. (Iran as well as China have
> always opposed Indian nuclear weapon capability.)Indian decision to
> acquire nuclear capability has little to do with Pakistan.
>

I fail to see your point. If I read it correctly, the analogy is not about cause, but about effect i.e., the possession of nuclear weapons by both India and Pakistan has (the argument goes) kept them each at bay, which is a good thing. Similarly, possession of nuclear weapons by Iran can have a good effect. That is the argument, as I understand it. I am not sure I agree with the relevance of the analogy in that India and Pakistan were probably restrained in their actions anyway, even before the nuclear capabilities (due to the imbalance of power, presence of democracy, and other reasons). In terms of the reasoning, it does seem that Iran would have a valid point if they are arguing that their possessing a nuclear weapon would restrain Israel (whose actions, we may all agree, are fairly unrestrained at this point). At the least it would prevent Israeli attacks against Iran (a la Iraq).

--ravi

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