Noam Chomsky: This is why right-wingers really oppose the Iran-deal (not because nuclear bomb)

[DetlefK]

http://www.alternet.org/world/noam-chomsky-why-republican-radical-insurgency-so-panicked-about-iran-nuclear-deal

Long article, good read. Here's the interesting paragraph:

Putting aside absurdities, what is the real threat of Iran that inspires such fear and fury? A natural place to turn for an answer is, again, U.S. intelligence. Recall its analysis that Iran poses no military threat, that its strategic doctrines are defensive, and its nuclear programmmes [with no effort to produce bombs, as far as intelligence can determine] are “a central part of its deterrent strategy”.

Who, then, would be concerned by an Iranian deterrent? The answer is plain: the rogue states that rampage in the region and do not want to tolerate any impediment to their reliance on aggression and violence. Far in the lead in this regard are the U.S. and Israel, with Saudi Arabia trying its best to join the club with its invasion of Bahrain to support the crushing of the reform movement by the dictatorship and now its murderous assault on Yemen, accelerating the humanitarian catastrophe there.



In other words: Iran is extremely weak right now in military terms, but a lifting of the sanctions would make it powerful again. And this new Iran would be an additional power-player in the Middle-East who would complicate things for the other power-players.

AND this would make Israel look bad because it would be the only middle-eastern country left to own nuclear weapons. (Whose existence Israel continues to deny and they aren't part of a nuclear proliferation treaty.)

[Mnemosyne]

1. K&R nt