Draw, Emaw!

My Esteemed Colleague "Emaw_KC" over at Three O'Clock in the Morning "called me out" on my last post, thus FORCING me to respond lest my honor be sullied. So be it!

First of all, I never suggested that Iran would "destroy the earth in an impending nuclear holocaust". Nothing of the sort. I merely suggested that the probability of some sort of nuclear exchange between Iran and the US before King George leaves office is approaching inevitability. This may not be them attacking us and us unleashing an all out "Gates Of Hell" obliteration on them. They may instead simply nuke Isreal, forcing Isreal or the U.S. to respond. It probably wouldn't escalate past the two nukings before the world put a stop to it. But I think that's bad enough. Don't you?

Your next point ("the humanity on Earth will be destroyed sooner or later, and for extreme environmentalist Greenies like myself, the sooner the better. Then the earth can get on with being an innocent ball of mud and water making it's way through the universe in peace") I tend to agree with. I've always said, this would be a pretty nice little planet if it weren't for all the FUCKING PEOPLE. But then, I'm a guy whose bubble of "personal space" is a bit larger than most. My Rule Of Thumb is, if I can email you, YOU'RE STANDING TO FUCKING CLOSE! But that's just me.

Next you said "Although a simplistic world view might help some people get through the night, purely good or bad guys are rare". I agree! 100%. The problem is, this Administration views the world strictly in terms of good guys and bad guys! There is Us (Right-Wing, Republican, Evangelical, Conservatives), our Allies (people who do what we say), and anyone who doesn't fit into those categories are either "Evil Doers" or Terrorist Coddlers. There are no shades of gray. There is no room for differing points of view. It's not an environment where Honest People can agree to disagree. It's "Our Way or The Highway!".

Then you wrote "In the case of Iran's nuclear ambitions, I think a lot of the blame can be given to Europe". Again, I agree. In fact, one of their diplomats recently boasted of "fooling the Europeans". But once again, this can be traced back to our own behavior. We are the only remaining Super Power. The Soviets were a paper tiger, the Chinese are just beginning to strive for dominance. We are (for now) the 400 pound Gorilla. The Europeans (especially France and Germany) feel that it is their duty to fill the void and act as a counter-balance to our overwhelming influence. So the more we take the hardline, the more compelled they are to take a softer approach. It's the classic "good cop, bad cop" routine. They see us as the bad cop, they try to be the good cop. Problem is, the cops are working against each other instead of with each other. The more we insist that the world follow OUR lead and do things OUR way, the more the Europeans rebel and say "Come talk to us. We are more reasonable than those oafish, arrogant Americans".

If we weren't such arrogant fucking bastards, we would get a lot more cooperation from the Europeans (and the rest of the world) and they wouldn't be so opposed to our interests. We are more isolated, and have fewer international friends now than at anytime in our history. You can thank the Bush Administration for that. The world LOVED Bill Clinton. They fucking HATE George W. Bush.

As for your last admonishment that I should become "older and wiser", my response is mixed. I continually strive for "wiser", but the "older" part of that can go fuck itself! My birth certificate says I'm 50 (lying piece of shit propaganda fucking government paperwork), but I swear I'm only 27!