Quote (bogie160 @ Mar 16 2012 06:58am)
Neither China nor Russia will risk widespread nuclear war on behalf of Iran, that you seem to suggest it makes me believe you're outright delusional.
If the Iranians use the bomb, they will die as a nation. If they threaten the bomb, they'll still die. The bluff (if it is one) will be called.
The present Iran doesn't have a future, it's just a question of when.
I don't think you have the foggiest idea how much hell to pay there would be if we invaded a nuclear country in the post cold war era.
We would be changing the entire dynamic of the game. We'd be talking cold war all over again. If China or Russia doesn't launch on the spot, we'd be looking at a dramatic arms escalation
We'd be living in fear of the first strike every single day again, and we'd probably be right in the near future
Peace is only kept in the world right now because nuclear countries cannot attack each other. MAD has become the de facto law of international relations.
If we totally violate it and start playing gambling with nukes, the other players aren't going to keep playing by the same rules.
It could be something as simple as the DPRK deciding its time to invade the south, because they are no longer safe behind their nukes.
This post was edited by Goomshill on Mar 16 2012 05:39pm