@coleridge

"Israel has every right to defend itself against the islamofascist threat posed by Iran."

and pray tell how Iran will carry out this threat? Israel is a nuclear power, and has many nuclear allies. Iran has neither. fact.

"If Iran states quite openly that it it intends to annihilate it"

ditto. how the hell can Iran achieve what you believe is the sole purpose of this Iranian regime when Israel has nukes but Iran does not?

why are you so impressed and terrified by the rhetoric of a few nutters? this current 'crisis' is like a walk in the park compared to the Cold War. how on earth did you manage to cope with that era, or are you too young to remember it?

The lack of self-awareness by some of the fanatics posting here is an exercise in defining irony.

Bomb, maim, and kill for peace.

We must kill, because we are not dangerous.

They have bizarre laws and customs, believing ridiculous things and punishing people arbitrarily for things beyond their control. We must enlighten them with our ideas that poor people are just being lazy and the best way to deal with poverty is to starve it, so that it "encourages" people to not be so poor.

We must completely ignore studies in political science which state that our own actions are what is fueling the Islamic jihad and rely on our own beliefs, because beliefs are bad.

We must foster regime change, because unelected politicians taking arbitrary harsh actions while their citizens riot in the streets and cause civil disorder is bad. But we must arrest our students, cut the benefits of rioters, and give them artifically long sentences too.

We must order such nations to not censor dissenting opinion, but we must also welcome tabloid yobbos into our corridors of power, shut down places like Press TV, and hold inquiries into the behaviour of the BBC when it runs stories about weapons of mass destruction.

We must prevent any of these nations from gaining any weapons, we must also insure that Israel (who have ignored many UN mandates) are armed to the teeth.

Pot, meet kettle.

@Julia

"Oh do me a favour, "he doesn't believe", "they deny it", "its not evident to me", what a load of supposition and very weak presentation."

supposition based on the nov 2011 IAEA report, and US Defence Secretary Panetta was on record just last month stating categorically that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. So Blix is not making stuff up, you are though.

you've been told these facts on other threads, yet here you are again posting your screeching hysteria and demand we ignore the experts.

as ever you only manage to portray yourself as unfit to participate in reasoned debate. you are clearly utterly unhinged.

If the Israelis feel so threatened by the Iranians then they should shed their own blood attacking Iran and face the consequences. In reality they are reluctant to do because the last attack on Iran resulted in a war that lasted 8 years and cost over a million casualties. Far better to drag in the dumb Goyim to help with the dirty work but this will require Zionist agitators of a higher caliber than the dross on this site to push us into another catastrophic war.

Scary people you lot, very scary.

Jackass you are beside yourself. Go back to Islamabad, stone some of your incredibly ugly women to death and when you have calmed down come back to the UK.

Jackass what an incredibly stupid position you take. The point here is to prevent the islamofascist Iran regime from getting the bomb. You may not be concerned about this prospect in Islamabad. The free non-Moslem democracies take a different view.

The politics of nuclear weapons are confusing. Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s we were told we needed them to keep us all safe. If owning nukes amounts to safety then we really should be giving Iran a few more to even things up.

Perhaps someone could explain my difficulty in understanding all of this.

The other argument is that some people shouldn't be allowed to have them. Iran is disqualified because it has a government the people didn't actually vote for, it fiddles elections, and it lies about weapons of mass destruction. And apparently people like that shouldn't be able to have access to dangerous weapons.

People are bringing up Israel a lot here, and indeed the two nations are very different. Iran has only ever said it would destroy a country, Israel didn't beat about the bush and just went right ahead and did it. Also Iran is sometimes boastful about its nuclear tests, while Israel concealed its nuclear weapons program, going so far as to jail the person who revealed their nuclear capability for 17 years. This is a much more wholesome method of aquiring weapons of mass destruction that we should feel safe with.

@Coleridge

so there's absolutely no chance you will post anything other than insults?

gosh, who's a clever boy then?

There is a concise explanation of why so many active Zionists prefer to live on a distance from their professed fatherland: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/17/the-suicide-state/
People like Melanie Phillips like Western freedoms but want to feel special. In the absence of real talent they find salvation in ethnocentricity. Einstein was free of this ridiculous sense; Wittgenstein was not interested in Jewish chosiness, but many Melanie Phillips cannot survive without the cherished notion of racial superiority. It is true that Iran is more alien for Europeans than Israel thanks to Jewish Diaspora’ deep connections to European culture (even if today Israelis practice their culture with an invented language). However, it was not Middle East that invaded Western world in search of natural resources but vice versa. What is wrong with protecting the native families and the culture that is thousands of years in continuity? Why should the US and UK sacrifice their men and women in uniform (and the financial resources) for the sake of religious fundamentalists in Israel? Both countries have their good and bad. The demonization of the whole population by the Zionist crowd rings some very painful memories.

@ Julia: bombing key sites, is by the act itself a declaration of war, what else could you call it, gentle persuasion, are you trying to be ironic? You make me laugh.

You and your kind know nothing of the mechanism of war. Sit in your armchair and spectate - marvel at the spectacle of it all.

You'll have that luxury, the forces on both sides won't have the same privilege.

Jankass, you are hysterically funny, please don't stop posting, we are all having a good laugh at you. LOL.

Er Zeeshan I don't think the Iranian people did vote for the ISPs fascist regime in power. If you remember in 2009 Ahmadenejad stole the election and then violently suppressed the 'Green Revolution' that followed by butchering his own civilians much like his fellow dictator Assad is doing in syria today.

@julia

do israel have nuclear weapons? has anybody inspected them? has israel ever declared war on anybody? has iran?

For god sakes sven king. Even more idiots coming out of the woodwork aren't there?

Ok class. Can someone please point out what happened last time we ignored Hans Blix concerning weapons of mass destruction and Middle Eastern nations whos name starts with "Ira"?

Scientists have a method of measuring intelligence among animals in a lab. It is the number of repetitions of a task it takes the animal before it understands it is doing the wrong thing. We have been fucking up the Middle East for DECADES now, and all we are getting back is bodies (and cheap oil).

Some of you need to actually get the idea that stomping around in that corner of the world isn't a great idea before some scientist decides to dissect your brain to find out what's wrong with it.

"Jackass what an incredibly stupid position you take."

and what a rude little man you remain Trolldirge...

i see that Sir M has already highlighted the main problem of your position. no doubt you'll just ignore this salient point?

Respect intl. law for a start.

JJ - "When I talk about Jews I tak about the Jews in Israel, the survivors and the descendants of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust" - quite a strange description then since many Israelis are not Jews and fewer still are "survivors and the descendants of the victims and survivors of the (Jewish)Holocaust".
Operation Barbarossa was the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union which some now claim was a preemptive strike, a claim Israel often makes to justify its aggression. Only a rabid Zionist could see a reference to the Jewish Holocaust in this. That I use the name of a Cherusci Chieftain who fought the Roman Empire as my ID leads you to wonder what my "agenda" is indicates that you have obviously strayed into tin-foil hat territory.
I have not condemned "mad mullahs in Iran" as I don't do requests to please Zionist nutters but I hold them in no higher regard than I do the mad Rabbis and fascists in Israel. My main concern is that no more British soldiers die in a war in the poxy sandpit that is the Middle East for the benefit of others.
BTW....the Wehrmacht usually referred to Partisans as bandits rather than "terrorists' during WW2. The fact is that some of them were bandits/terrorists and were/are wanted for war crimes in Poland and the Baltic States.

@ Jackass,

1) Its a good job I and others don't take anything you say seriously, I know your really in love with me as you get so upset if I don't respond to your posts.

2) Ditto about taking anything seriously, I have presented so much fact but the facts don't mean anything to you, you just cast your own view.

3) No conflicting anything my simple minded friend.

4) I result to insults when I am being insulted and I am happy to insult those that are criminally stupid i.e there stupidity is dangerous to us all.

I have argued my position and made more valid and reasoned points backed up with evidence than any of you. Please don't try and tell me I don't know what I am talking about.

Jackass, as I have said before, your an idiot with delusions of grandeur, your little insights are not really that insightful and your cutting remarks don't really cut it, poor 1/10, try harder.

@Sir M

"Ok class. Can someone please point out what happened last time we ignored Hans Blix concerning weapons of mass destruction and Middle Eastern nations whos name starts with "Ira"?"

i'll answer that on behalf of Julia, sven, and coleridge;
everything worked out really well for us, and we have been reaping the benefits ever since. by ignoring Blix, ignoring UN requirements, treating all Islamic nations as primitive murderous scum, and occupying as much territory as possible in addition to financially propping up corrupt nations, we have finally brought a lasting peace not only to the entire region, but to the globe. for ever and ever amen. see a Muslim - kill kill kill, before they eat all our babies.

there. that's about the extent of their reality, no? do they pass...?

@Julia: Do me a favour you churlish woman! Your opening gambit let's you down and underscores my previous post!

However, have it your way, there's no middle ground with you it would seem.

You have no fuckin idea do ya!!!

"Jackfuk and Sir Madfuk"

"Jackwanks"

and in a hail of insults Julia takes the ball...glad to see i caused you so much upset, couldn't have happened to a nicer bigot.

Julia, Hans Blix is one of the worlds foremost experts on WMD. This was the man who told us there wasn't anything significant in Iraq. His words were ignored, and the consequences were an increase in terrorism, the loss of thousands of civilian lives and military lives alike, a decade long occupation, and a bankrupt world economy.

Put partizanship aside for a minute. Is it worth ignoring him a second time?

And if we are going to ignore experts why bothing having them at all? Why not just invade, bomb, and attack everyone who *might* have something we don't like?

We're have to use the same methods we used to prevent Israel getting the bomb, won't we?

War with Iran is a truly fearsome prospect.

Its likely consequences would include attacks on US air bases from thousands of Iranian missiles, the unleashing of terrorist attacks within the US and Europe, the rocketing of Israeli towns from the tens of thousands of missiles trained on Israel from Lebanon, the closing of the Straits of Hormuz thus paralysing western oil supplies, and doubtless other horrors.

But however fearsome this prospect, that of a nuclear-armed Iran is worse. The consequences are simply insupportable.

A regime which has seen itself at war with the west ever since it came to power in 1979, and which has been involved in arguably every major terrorist atrocity against it, will be equipped with nuclear weapons to bring the west to its knees. Working as it does through puppet rogue regimes and terror organisations, it could perpetrate acts of nuclear terrorism – or threaten to do so.

It could mount its long-threatened attempt to wipe Israel off the map, thus provoking a nuclear response to prevent a second genocide of the Jews. Last but by no means least, it will spark a nuclear arms race throughout the region, thus ensuring that nuclear weapons come under the control of some of the most unstable and belligerent regimes on earth. To all these threats and more, the west will be paralysed by Iran’s nuclear capacity, just as it is currently paralysed over North Korea.

This is a nightmare to which the west seems to have woken up only very recently, with the hands on Iran’s nuclear clock fast approaching midnight. Now it has sprung into action. The EU has imposed tough sanctions, including a freeze on the assets of the Iranian central bank within the EU, hitting Iranian oil exports for the first time. With the rial falling on the stock market, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz. The US responded by sailing two aircraft carriers through the Straits. Iran did not close them. The US said Iran had blinked first. Iran said the same of the US.