A queasy thought about the high stakes poker game with Iran

[GliderGuider]

So Ahmedinajad is bluffing for all he's worth, and we all know he's holding a king high at most. Despite that, he acts totally unconcerned, and seems eager to "see you and raise you" at every turn. This gives rise to the usual thought, expressed here often recently, "That man is one card short of a deck."

Reading the chain of escalation this morning, however, a horrifying thought occurred to me. What if the reason he's bluffing so hard is he knows that if his bluff is called, he's actually covered? To torture the poker metaphor further, he has a pair of aces up his sleeve. Wondering what those aces might be led me to think back back to the news article last week about Ukrainian nukes:

The Ukrainian defense ministry denied media reports Monday that Ukraine had sold 250 nuclear warheads to Iran, RIA Novosty reported.

The newspaper said that Ukraine had failed to return 250 warheads to Russia in the 1990s when the former Soviet republic declared itself a nuclear-free zone. The paper suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, including Iran.

And I suddenly realized, the aces Ahmedinajad is hiding could actually be Ukrainian warheads, already in place in a selection of American cities. If that were true, he could twist the American tiger's tail pretty much as hard as he wanted. When the US eventually calls him, he tips his hand and reveals one of the warheads without detonating it, and tells them to back the f#ck off. MAD is then officially back on the table: touch us and you're toast.

Then we get to see who the crazy ones really are. Would Bush still bet against a hand like that? Would Ahmidinajad transmit the codes if he felt Bush was going to go anyway? Would one or the other fold?

No matter how it turns out, I think we'll know by April 28: that's 16 days from now, unless I've seriously misread the inclusion of that specific number in today's American statement.

[cassiepriam]

1. Are you kidding? Bush would do it without thinking twice.

Get into a pissing contest with someone as insane as he is, even if it means blowing up half the US.
He'd do it for God and freedom. :(
And then would brag about it to everyone.
Or maybe make a joke of it at the next National press dinner.

[LunaC]

2. Ahmidinajad is just as cray as *

Waiting for the rapture in Iran
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1221/p01s04-wome.html

It's a case of "Dueling Armageddons"

[Junkdrawer]

3. So, after we depopulate Iran in retaliation for the nuke attacks...

should we be responsible for pumping the oil the "Free World" needs? :shrug:

[Just Me]

4. Well, just assume for a moment that the rest of the world rejects the,...

,...proposition that one country/nation will rule the world. Power-sharing is optimal because everyone keeps their culture and soveriegnty and identity and peoples, intact. Any bullying power is a threat to the freedom to believe in one's own meaning and identity and beliefs, a threat to democracy, itself.

Now, the US may have military superiority over any single nation but not against the world. Moreover, the US presents only 3% of the world population. In spite of its arrogance about its military and economic might, it cannot conquer billions who seek power-sharing, a healthy form of democracy, who will reject strong-arm destruction purely for purposes of power over the world.

I mean, it's fucking SICK and wholly unethical to even think in terms of imposing power over the weak.

The common human being understands that evil.

If the BushCO/neocon regime bunker-bust Iran, they will simultaneously destroy their own countrywo/men and their nation. Maybe, that's what they want. They are that fucked up in the head. And they do believe they will be applauded in history in spite of the advancements, clear/identifiable advancements towards global HUMAN stability: evidence recently demonstrated by historical global protests against this regimes' bent upon global control.

[1956]

5. The two leaders

involved are just as crazy as they can be. From what I have read, the Iranians themselves aren't crazy about their madman either. It's like the citizens(us and them) are all on the same peaceful page, and yet the truly insane
can't wait to use their really big toys! Remember that game Risk? Someone needs to remind these assholes that this ain't no game. Better yet, maybe some nice secret operative can just...slip in the middle of the night and...deal with the problem one bad man at a time!

[Just Me]

6. How does the Iranian nation compare in terms of a global power?

There is NO comparison in terms of weapons or wealth.

Are you suggesting Iran is a stand-alone opposition to US possession over the globe? :shrug:

They are merely, on the global chessboard, a knight, if that. One piece on this board. We have a slew of other pieces on this board. The neoconsters are so goddamned arrogant to believe they can wield the entire board,...but they are flat out delusional.

This isn't a global chess game. The game of chess is one-dimensional. The world is MULTI-dimensional. These neoconster sickos have no ability to anticipate their own invitation to defeat because THEY are so freakin' one-dimensional.

They should be caged in an insane asylum, like Hitler should've, BEFORE they wreak terror, worse than that waged by Hitler, upon humanity.

[1956]

7. Couldn't agree more!