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Climate Change Denial Front Group Heartland Institute Sends Emails to Bloggers Threatening Legal Action

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Testy Toad T2/20/2012 9:52:05 am PST

re: #502 Obdicut

The big unanswered question is if the mullahs are actually insane religious fanatics, or just asshole theocrats who want to stay in power. If it’s the former, the threat that they might use any nukes is very, very real.

Well, more than that, it’s not entirely clear that the mullahs would be in complete control of a nuclear device in the first place. The power structure in Iran is pretty murky. If Crazed Chief Secular Executive starts frothing about attacking eg. Israel without the support of the mullahs, how confident are we that no factions of the Iranian military will support him? How about the revolutionary guards, which is an entirely separate organization? Or the local militias?

Mao and Stalin had nukes, and I won’t suggest that any of the Iranian powers that be can hold a candle to them. The world managed, but partially because we knew exactly who we were dealing with. It’s very hard to have meaningful and long-lasting negotiations and political agreements with such a fragmented political/military structure.