Friday, February 20, 2009

Albright on Russia: "they'll say ..'So what? They're still not building nuclear weapons.'"

CFR interviews David Albright, here

"....Within this year, it could happen. Once Iran reaches that breakout capability, countries will have different responses. Some, like Russia, will probably say, 'So what? They're still not building nuclear weapons.' The United States will have to worry that they don't know Iran's intentions. The U.S. government has believed Iran would eventually seek nuclear weapons and it would have to face the prospect that it could happen with little notice, complicating any negotiation process. A country like Israel will see it as a major threat because they'll worry that if things do go bad and Iran decides to get nuclear weapons, they can do so quickly, and Israel wouldn't know what or where to strike. For Israel, an Iranian nuclear breakout capability brings up existential questions..."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Existential threat? Does anyone who knows anything about Iran believe that the mullahs are anything but the most pragmatic folks around? Does Israel know anything about Iran? So what exactly is the issue?

Expulsion of the Palestinians? Rebuilding of the Second Temple (destruction of Al Aqsa)? Heading for the Irgun emblem map?

A couple of Iranian warheads with uncertain delivery systems is only a deterrent to some fairly radical steps on the part of the Israelis. What might those be?

One wonders.