If you have not read this article, you might find it interesting. When we were engrossed in the Cold War with the Soviet bloc, we were relatively safe because both sides had nuclear weapons, and both sides understood the mutual destruction potential even if a first strike caught one side unprepared. The destroyed country's automatic doomsday devices would activate missiles that would destroy the attacker even if the "loser" was already completely destroyed. Neither the Soviet bloc nor we considered the total destruction of our countries a risk worth taking.
Iran, on the other hand, does not have that fear. In their belief system, generally prayer, good works, and general goodness may not necessarily earn one paradise. Because of a degree of fatalism in their system, their paths are predetermined and the guarantee of one or another path leading to paradise instead of hell is just not there. The only way of breaking out of the cycle is by martyrdom. Martyrdom is the only real guarantee of reaching paradise. If the authorities in Iran, religious hard-liners, believe that the doomsday systems of the United States and of Israel could completely annihilate Iran if Iran took the first step, that is NOT an important risk factor for them to consider. Dying while trying to destroy "enemies" of Islam makes everyone a martyr, even those who are not privy to the decisions. In that regard, there is no risk, only great rewards, for blowing up the entire planet. Now, do you get the picture?
HJS
Iran, on the other hand, does not have that fear. In their belief system, generally prayer, good works, and general goodness may not necessarily earn one paradise. Because of a degree of fatalism in their system, their paths are predetermined and the guarantee of one or another path leading to paradise instead of hell is just not there. The only way of breaking out of the cycle is by martyrdom. Martyrdom is the only real guarantee of reaching paradise. If the authorities in Iran, religious hard-liners, believe that the doomsday systems of the United States and of Israel could completely annihilate Iran if Iran took the first step, that is NOT an important risk factor for them to consider. Dying while trying to destroy "enemies" of Islam makes everyone a martyr, even those who are not privy to the decisions. In that regard, there is no risk, only great rewards, for blowing up the entire planet. Now, do you get the picture?
HJS
Thomas Sowell
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Now that the two parties have finally selected their presidential candidates, it is time for a sober-- if not grim-- assessment of where we are. Not since 1972 have we been presented with two such painfully inadequate candidates. When election day came that year, I could not bring myself to vote for either George McGovern or Richard Nixon. I stayed home.
This year, none of us has that luxury. While all sorts of gushing is going on in the media, and posturing is going on in politics, the biggest national sponsor of terrorism in the world-- Iran-- is moving step by step toward building a nuclear bomb.
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