[1967 R50/2]

Relatively irrelevant in my opinion, for the same reasons as in the "armeggedon" thread. But even moreso, because this presumes that the DEMOCRATiCALLY ELECTED gov't of Pakistan is somehow incapable of securing nuclear weapons while the outgoing DICTATOR who came to power in a coupe was.

As this is essentially the same stuff all over again, I'm going to do a cut and paste here:

Cut and then paste.

1. Believe it or not everthing that happens in the world involves the US.
2. And not everthing that is bad is the end of the world.

Frankly, if Iran gets the A-bomb it changes nothing. If Pakistani radicals get the bomb...it too is changes almost nothing. Since almost the dawn of the nuclear age we have lived under the threat of imminent annihilation from the Soviet Union (now, Russian Federation, etc.) That's a threat much more real than any posed by IRAN (or Pakistan) and we never give it a 2nd thought.

We didn't go and blow ourselves up over the Cuban Missile Crisis, and that was a much more real threat than any imagined threat today.

If Iran gets the bomb, the most likely outcome is that they will pull a "north korea" and use it as a bargaining chip to get sanctions dropped. Which is fine by me. We've had sanctions on Iran for almost 30 years with no effect other than giving the Ayatollahs someone to thumb their noses at and justify their existence. Same with Cuba. Same with Saddam before we stepped in. Same with Kim Jung Il. These sphincters all need a "Crisis" to justfy themselves domestically and our foreign policy serves it up, nice, warm and delivered to their door in less than 30 minutes. I can't think of instance where sanctions have actually forced a regime change.

Nixon knew this. Better to open up to China then isolate them. Now they are all good capitalists.

As for Israel...they can take care of themselves reagrdless of Iran's intentions. They have been doing so for a long time. Plus they have nukes and everyone knows it, including Iran.