Mail Bag

In response to Who’s Next? (Part II — Nuclear Boogaloo) below, Tim Maguire asks:

How can that last line be interpreted as anything other than a threat to develop nuclear weapons? And, given that, how can our participation be seen as anything other than a violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty?

Exactly. I wasn’t exactly sold on military action against Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, I was pretty much resigned to the idea of Iran getting nukes, and that regime change was a better plan. But the mullahs have proven just too adept at clinging to power, despite their unpopularity and the occasional round of violent student revolts.

Now that the Iranian program is turning into a regional nuclear arms race, the military option might just be the least bad option. Did I say “regional?” As Tim so rightly notes, if we abandon nuclear non-proliferation, even only de facto, the results could be global — and not in a good way.