12-01-2017, 04:09 PM
(12-01-2017, 03:36 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: True
Iran already has a missile program which was not covered in our nuke agreement with them. They have continued development. We were making headway in getting an agreement with them on the missiles, but that has now been washed aside. And the current no-nuke deal with Iran (which might be the most productive thing the Obama admin did in 8 years) is in danger of being discarded. Without the deal, they could have nukes within 5 years I'd wager.
If Trump can re-write an agreement with Iran that keeps the no-nuke agreement and adds the missiles, then I will have more respect for him. If he can work deals to get both countries to be no-nuke, I may even give his admin a passing grade despite whatever else may occur (not that they care about my grades). That is what I hope for.
I mention Trump because he is "Johnny-on-the-Spot" right now. There is no doubt that the Bush and Obama Admins can be implicated in letting the NK situation get to where it is (we were actually making some good progress with NK under Clinton, believe it or not). That said, the "blame game" no longer matters in this situation. It is a "where we go from here" situation right now. This is where real leaders show their worth, or weak leaders fail.
While I applauded, and still do, the Iran deal at the time I don't think it's likely it will/would prevent them from securing nuclear weapons. Once you have them the cat is out of the bag. All the Iran deal really did was ensure a deepening of Iran's pariah nation status if they completely reneged on the nuclear deal, especially after years of saying they weren't trying to develop nuclear weapons and that they didn't want them. Once they have them it's a classic case of "come and get them". How we deal with North Korea will determine whether Iran ends up with nuclear weapons.
I was firmly against the second Iraq war, from the beginning. I also don't like the idea of preemptive war, but the stakes in this case are too high to let North Korea continue to exist as a nuclear power. Pay a lot now or pay a hell of a lot more later. Kicking the can down the road is no longer an option.
