This seems right, but the monster child seems headed in that direction. Curious if well-informed readers have a different view and, if so, why?
With the proviso that I’m no longer in the field and that it is a book, not a course or…
2 responses to ““Why a U.S. attack on Iran would backfire””
-
Your question raises a more fundamental question: as a reader how do you even become well-informed? Is it just me or have the legacy media outlets become worse and worse … to the point where it’s impossible from reading them to know what’s going on. In the case of Ukraine it’s been especially striking. Last week the BBC was implying that the Ukrainians have it all but wrapped up provided they just hang in there for a few more weeks. And don’t get me started on Gaza. One can, I suppose, look here and there and everywhere and try to come to some sort of a coherent picture but that approach has its own obvious limitations. I suppose I should go back to getting the FT delivered every morning. Any other suggestions?
-
I am not Iranian, but if I were, I would be concerned that during a revolution, Iran would be exceedingly vulnerable to attacks by the US and certain regional partners intending to instigate a long-burning civil war. This would replicate, mutatis mutandis, the significantly weakened state of polities such as Iraq and Syria, not to speak of Lebanon and Libya (which are effectively non-existent states). The potential level of cultural destruction and human suffering tout court is all but unthinkable in light of the escalating destruction in other parts of the Middle East during the past couple of years. I am no admirer of the present regime, and a level of ‘liberalization’ akin to that of Turkey might help preserve the state—any state—in Iran. Then there is the question of the bomb: I do not think the religio-military hierarchy is any more irrational than that of Pakistan, and it seems more rational than other actors who already possess it. However, as it stands, the crux—the existential peril for Iran—may lie more in the pursuit of a nuclear defense than in what follows its actual acquisition.
Leave a Reply to John Pillette Cancel reply