Israel and Iran - Will we see air strikes soon?

No, that was my reply to D3evil.

Once agian, why does everyone need to have nukes, i have pointed this out about 4 times. The more people who have nukes the more likely someone will launch. That coupled with fact that Iran has said they want Israel "wiped off the map", makes not want them to get nuclear weapons. And I am not complaining about islam, I was pointing out that their extreme postion when it comes to islam makes them more likely to associate with groups like al quadea.

I glad you find it funny, but you do know this is how the world has worked since the dawn of civilization, right? there has always been a dominate politcal power(s) in the world.
Yes we indeed are the "great protectors of balance", if thats how you want to phrase it, because that's the position we are in. We have the power to do it, it is beneficial to us(stable regions are better for trade and commerce), and it is benefial to the region(peace, commerce etc). You want us to just quit everything and return to isolation like we were before WWI. Let's say we do, now there is a void, both globally and in smaller regions, that someone is going to try fill. It would take years of war(it would be far more costly then the war in iraq or afghanistam) for a regional power to emerge in the middle east. You say this would be good, but are you really ready to say that it would be worth all those deaths just so iran or turkey or israel can dominate the middle east?

Or, the far more likely scenerio, a new foreign superpower would emerge to replace the US. Probably China or Russia, or maybe even both and you end up with a sort of cold war. Then you be just back were you started but with someone else, and they might even be worse. So what would be the point, your gonna have global hegemon anyway. The US already has that position and mainntains relative stability throughout the world. So why should we leave?

Oh and one more thing, you mentioned this position that we are in, are you refering to our economy? If so, the recession has less to do with our involvement in global polititcs, then it does with bush, mismanaging the shit out of everything.

Anyway I will answer any more reply's tommor, I am going to sleep.

Actually, the opposite might be true. Your anchoring on that "wiped off the map" thing is getting pretty old. You also keep referring to these scary boogy-men known as terrorists, but I still don't know what the big deal is. The only reason 9/11 happened was because of our influence in the region. So now we have to exert more of that influence because of a bigger threat of terrorism? Where is there reasoning in that?

Yeah, and how did they all end up? I don't see that as a blessing.

We are? How is our attempt to establish balance working out? By us even having this debate seems to contradict that idea doesn't it. We certainly try though don't we.

We don't though. We have the power to piss them off and make things less stable (war with Iran.) You would think if we had the power we would not be having all these problems.

Sure, I guess.

I doubt it would be as bad as you say it will be, you're being very dooms-dayish about all of this, but if there has to be some conflict to get rid of some differences between the regional powers then that is just the way it has to be. Better for them to establish natural power-relations.

If you are indeed correct and there has to be a global super-power then I'm fine with them taking that mantle. I don't want to live in a country that wastes its resources and destroys liberties so it can fight a War on Terror that it caused. (Not that the U.S. is the only one to blame, not at all. But you understand what I mean.)

Really?