WWIII?

[Teh Owntt]

Theres been a lot of talk recently regarding the incidents in the middle east. Many say that Israel and Lebanon's fights could spark World War III, what are your thoughts on this?

[Venomhp1]

While I think this is certainly coming close- we may have dodged the bullet on this one. It is my opinion that if anyone is going to get the world in a war it would be none other than america. And the fact that america has wavered on its 1 week ultimatus shows a reluctance to stir anything else up. Take that as you may- it is only my opinion.

[Sonthert]

Its possible, but why would this little brush war, thats recurred several times in the past thirty years, start WWIII?

[Teh Owntt]

As far as I know, the U.S. backs Israel, while Lebanon is backed by the UN. Obviously, the US does not really care what the UN has to say, but after a while something might happen.

[Sonthert]

The UN is a puppet of the US. When it starts growing a brain, we reject them and put new people in who will piss the right way. The UN is there to echo the great voice of the US in audience. Too bad, if the UN was better run and respected with all members getting an equal say, or eliminate the security council vetoes, the UN could be a great organization, capable of bringing the world together.Edit: Lebanon is Israel's own personal kicking dog. We used Iraq more recently. To have a kicking dog, you have to make sure the dog won't bite back and tell everyone he's the meanest dog in god's creation. Kick away. Hezbollah is powerless to stop the sheer might of military force, but we have to convince you they are dangerous and the greatest threat ever seen before. Now its WWIII, the greatest battle yet! Bull. Big, bully nations beating up on little, powerless nations and portraying the little guys as the greatest threat we have ever seen. Right. Why doesn't the US go attack China? I mean, China is OBVIOUSLY the biggest threat to our security in the world, right? Because that bitch bites back. If they might take a chunk out of you, its no fun, they have to be powerless.

[loanshark]

No offence to anyone one but we should stay out of it and let them kill each other if they want. This sh*t has been going on for way to long and there really is nothing that we can do to stop it. it is driven by god fearing zelots.

[Claytron]

America should stay out of other countries' problems - yes. That's one of the many reasons why everyone hates the US. I agree with Tangiers, the UN has the ability to be a very powerful body but is toothless against the US which is absurd. America should strive to be part of an a real UN.I'm not sure if China is the largest active threat to US and world security. They aren't actively threatening us - that, and we can't do shit to them. North Korea is arguably a greater potential threat in the near future - in fact a greater threat at the time America attacked Iraq but N.Korea doesn't have oil - so there's no interest in actually sending soldiers there unless the US absolutely has to.The world is riddled with problems, but the US chooses to 'help' in only selfish ways.If you actually visit the UN here in NYC - the end of their tour has one simple message: War sucks, and if America would donate even a portion of it's military spending budget to aid international problems they could obliterate most of the world's serious problems. It's pretty f*ckin' depressing.

[Sonthert]

Yeah, I was saying China poses a threat rhetorically. I, personally, don't believe China poses a threat to our long-term security. If you wanted, on the other hand, to take the obstacles out of the way for the US to be the only superpower, which is what we are working up to, obliterate China.

[loanshark]

I feel China is a threat to the US economically. They have become so industrialized that there need for oil has gone up. China was very dependant on the oil from the Middle East. Now that there is so many issues in the middle east China has looked else where for there oil. The US has become a huge supplier to china and they are paying top dollar. This is the major reason oil price has gone up so much. The US only got 4% or less of our oil from the Middle East. We recently started selling more and more US made oil to China because of there appetite and the fact they are paying top dollar. Oil companies are making huge profits not just on the backs of the US but because they are selling a large amount to China. So I feel the real China threat is not military but huge impact on US economy. Oil price per barrel is sick it is a false inflation and that is what the fed is trying to balance with rising rates. We have gotten to a braking point and can be pushed in to a recession very easily. Just my .2

[Sonthert]

Thats from the use of computers in business, in my opinion. We tax companies to hire laborers, but not tax them when they "employ" computers that would replace them? Absurd. I reject the premise that the IT and computer industry has created a net number of jobs. They use Walmart logic...we move in and bring jobs...good! Truth is, they kill more jobs than they create. Moreover, in the next five years, the US will become a net importer of IT stuff, rather than a net exporter.

[Claytron]

[url="http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008768"]http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008768[/url]That might start it.

[Sonthert]

Absurd. More crap like "The Japanese are tiny little people, animals, ruthless they will kill you for absolutely no reason, that's why we have to fight them." WWII. Articles stirring up sentiment, they are dangerous, they are animals, they don;t care about their own lives, they just want to kill all of us. Its folksy, its somewhat amusing, its egocentric and its absurd. The Iranians, no more want to die than we do. A select few lunatics do, but they are few and far between. We have them here, in our country, Theodore Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, Jeffrey Daumer, Timothy McVeigh, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Lee Malvo and John Wayne Gacy, to name a few. Does that mean every American is bent on killing as many Dutch people or Paraguayans as we can? If a Dutch person looked at us and the crazies we had, would they say "Oh, yeah, the US is out to kill all the Dutch." Of course not. Its only egotistic propaganda that feeds the sentiment: of course they're out to kill us, we're America! Iraq and now Iran have never attacked the US, they've never rattled a sabre. Again, they have to be the most dangerous enemy we've ever faced otherwise, they are no use as a kicking dog. They are, of course, absolutely powerless, hence their desire to get a nuclear weapon. Unless they fill your head with imaginary dangers and condition your mind to believe things that, under careful rational humanist scrutiny, are absurd. Then we couldn't be the world's leading terrorist nation. We wouldn't support stupid war after stupid war spending billions on weapons to make the defense contractors and oil companies richer.

[Claytron]

I don't feel the opinion is scaremongering so much as hypothesizing what he could do. The articles sentiment is that the leader of Iran and those he surrounds himself with are the ones who makes such decisions. His hatred of our country and our support is well publicized and apparently as discussed it recently on his blog. [url="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/13/irans_president_taun.html"]http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/13/irans...ident_taun.html[/url]I'm not saying I believe that it is going to happen, but if Iran did decide to attack Israel with an atomic weapon or otherwise, that could very well start a third world war. That's what I meant by sharing that.I also read an interesting and LONG article a while back discussing Bush's plans for Iran and how those close to him have stated that he has considered 'saving' Iran to be his legacy - since at the moment he's going to go out in shambles. ... I wish I could remember the source. I'll try and dig it up later.

[Sonthert]

Impossible. They:A: Don't have nuclear weapons andB: If Israel gets nuked, they're on their own. The US is not going to go toe to toe with the Iran in a nuclear war, without pissing of the neighbor(s) (Turkmenistan), one of the Soviet nuclear powers. Despite their rhetoric, they would let Israel smolder. The former Soviet States would undoubtedly retailiate. Again, if we don't make these people into the worst threat we've ever seen, we can't drum up public opinion to support a war. The media has to sensationalize the scene to boost ratings. In truth, they are a useless, backward country and couldn't defend themselves militarily against the US. When the first Gulf War occurred, Iraq was incredibly dangerous, they had 1,000,000 men in their army. Wow! They folded in a few days. They were the most dangerous then, but they folded in a couple of days. Absurd. Its another attempt to get America into a useless war where patrotic, idealistic young Americans can die a meaningless death for the increased profits of the Military Industrial Complex and the Oil Multinationals. We continue to tamper with other countries, much to our detriment. We intervened in Afghanistan and built up a guy named Osama bin Laden. We intervened in Iraq to prevent the buildup of Iran before, we built up a guy named Saddam Hussein (won the Key to the City of Detroit in 1984). Disaster, disaster, disaster. If we weren't perticipating in these disastrous foreign policy decisions, which are being made in the best interests of a select few in the US, we wouldn't be hated by so many people and we wouldn't have to intervene. Iran CAN'T hurt us. Screw Germany, screw Israel, screw Turkey. Let them fend for themselves. We would have a lot less to worry about, these countries [Our kicking dogs, Iran, Lenbanon, Iraq]have no means to project any significant military force against us, let alone their neighbors. North Korea's nuclear program is not being handled militarily because they have teeth and will bite back. If the UN decides there is a problem, then intervention may make sense, but we continue to mess around and get more people pissed off, we WILL have to fight for our own survival and face ruined US society , economy and cities. If Iran is really a threat, its because of the US supported the barbaric Shah and forced a religious revolution that started them down the path they are on. I don't buy the argument "Its too late now, we have to do something. We have to address what private interests are fuelling these disasterous foreign policy decisions and stop them. We have to man up, and let the pressure and anger subside or something bad WILL happen. Not from a pathetic Iran, but an angry Russia, China or France.