[The Australian] Greg Sheridan - At some stage during the next presidency, Iran will blow up into a full-scale crisis that will dominate global politics and that may be more important than the Wall Street financial crisis, the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan's internal crisis, and the relentless military build-up of China. A bipartisan report commissioned by two former U.S. senators and written primarily by Middle East expert Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute begins: "A nuclear weapons capable Islamic Republic of Iran is strategically untenable." "A nuclear ready or nuclear-armed Islamic Republic ruled by the clerical regime could threaten the Persian Gulf region and its vast energy resources, spark nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East, inject additional volatility into global energy markets, embolden extremists in the region and destabilize states such as Saudi Arabia and others in the region, provide nuclear technology to other radical regimes and terrorists (although Iran might hesitate to share traceable nuclear technology), and seek to make good on its threats to eradicate Israel." "The threat posed by the Islamic Republic is not only direct Iranian action but also aggression committed by proxy. Iran remains the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, proving its reach from Buenos Aires to Baghdad."
2008-09-29 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive