re: #7 Decatur Deb

Madhouses liked Iran and North Korea are not designed to make sense when viewed from the outside. Their actions probably make wonderful sense as responses to internal dynamics—which we outsiders don’t know.

Pathologizing enemies generally isn’t a good way of understanding them but it is a good way to mentally exclude other options than violence in dealing with them. Nearly everyone the US has bombed the last century has been “mad”.

Iran isn’t North Korea. Their internal dynamic is much different. The nuclear program and military policy is, within certain boundaries, debated quite openly within Iran and it isn’t hard at all to make sense of the different competing positions if you make the effort.
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