Promoting democracy in the region

[furface]

If I were in the royal family of a podunk monarchy like Saudi Arabia, I'd be scared of democratic Iran as well. Don't want dangerous ideas like democracy reaching the Kingdom. Same goes for Sheikhs in gulf emirates. So Iran is perhaps the most democratic country in all of the Middle East, but we choose to deal with monarchies and ethnic cleansers instead.

Interesting thing about attacking Iran and how embarrassing this can be to Islamic rulers. Within Islamic scholarship there would be no provocation for attacking Iran, so really in a lot of ways, what's stopping the Saudi royal family from openly advocating an attack on Iran is their religion. On the other hand Sarah Palin and other Bible thumpers are demanding violence against Iran.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,731580,00.html

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? A friend: Abdullah can't stand his neighbors in Iran and, expressing his disdain for the mullah regime, said, "there is no doubt something unstable about them." And his ally, Sheikh bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi? Also a friend. He believes "a near term conventional war with Iran is clearly preferable to the long term consequences of a nuclear armed Iran."

Here's another little tidbit for the anti-Ahmedinejad flamers.

an enraged Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari allegedly got into a heated argument with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and slapped him in the face because the generally conservative president had, surprisingly, advocated freedom of the press.

 

[DevDoc82]

Theocracy

Iran is somewhat of a democracy, I guess you could say. However, they are a Theocratic Republic, which is their own words. That is what Ayatollah Khomeini intended once they ousted the Shah in 1979.

I believe the reason Saudi Arabia is not issuing an attack on Iran may lean toward the fact that there are small Shiite communities within the Kingdom that could pose substantial problems to the stability of the country.

 

[furface]

small Shiite communities within the Kingdom that could pose substantial problems to the stability of the country.

That didn't stop Saddam from invading Iran in 1980 even though Iraq is majority Shia. The difference is that Saudis are religious and Iraq at that time was secular. At the state level Islam is the main thing stopping violence in the region. This is the exact opposite of the US where whacked interpretations of Judaism and Christianity are promoting international aggression by America.

 

[DevDoc82]

That didn't stop Saddam from invading Iran in 1980 even though Iraq is majority Shia. The difference is that Saudis are religious and Iraq at that time was secular. At the state level Islam is the main thing stopping violence in the region. This is the exact opposite of the US where whacked interpretations of Judaism and Christianity are promoting international aggression by America.

You have a point. It is truly sad that some many are willing to pervert the name of the Lord for their own agenda. Truly, the wrath of a just God must fall upon us, if we do not repent. Another point I would like to make is a simple one. If you had American troops to the west and east of your country, what would you do? I would build a nuke as a deterrent. That is the only logical reason to me why Iran would undertake such a project.

 

[furface]

You have a point. It is truly sad that some many are willing to pervert the name of the Lord for their own agenda. Truly, the wrath of a just God must fall upon us, if we do not repent. Another point I would like to make is a simple one. If you had American troops to the west and east of your country, what would you do? I would build a nuke as a deterrent. That is the only logical reason to me why Iran would undertake such a project.

It's an interesting situation. From an ideological standpoint, I personally believe that Christianity has it right, that pacifism is the ultimate answer. For some reason, though, there aren't a lot of pacifists in America.

I honestly think that Iran isn't working on nuclear weapons. They know that the US would have used it as an excuse to attack Iran after they attacked Iraq. Recent revelations by Bush in his biography suggest that he would definitely have attacked Iran had it not been for a CIA report that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

 

[DevDoc82]

It's an interesting situation. From an ideological standpoint, I personally believe that Christianity has it right, that pacifism is the ultimate answer. For some reason, though, there aren't a lot of pacifists in America.

I honestly think that Iran isn't working on nuclear weapons. They know that the US would have used it as an excuse to attack Iran after they attacked Iraq. Recent revelations by Bush in his biography suggest that he would definitely have attacked Iran had it not been for a CIA report that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

I think the problem with America is this idea of exceptionalism, which is a load of crap. Who are we to tell a autonomous nation what they can and cannot do. We are no exception to God's laws. If we continue down this path, it is only a matter of time before we are a nation of the past. Empire building only leads to the loss of sovereignty.