What if?...
Reader comment on item: Today vs. 1935: Hyperbole or Prescience?

Submitted by Jon (United States), Apr 4, 2006 at 23:51

It's important also to compare the economic climates of Iran today and Germany of 1935. To the German then, Hitler was the one who saved them from the Weimar Republic's hyperinflation, the Treaty of Versailles (which demanded Germany pay all her war repairations from the first world war) and not to forget the Great Depression that was then vexing the globe. Hitler's rearmament of Germany was bringing prosperity to Germany after all of that. The bottom line is that desperate people will employ desperate measures. I doubt they had the foresight to know it would eventually backfire on them.

Fast forward to Iran today, and I don't believe Ahmadinejad inherited a state like the Weimar Republic. After all, they've been trading partners with China and Russia for years and obviously have their hands in some oil revenue. For that, I doubt the Iranians could be called "desperate" in any sense. I assume then, that what drives the Iranians instead is religious zealotry, equally dangerous, if you ask me.

Another key difference is that '35 Germany was the pre-nuclear age. If Iran does acquire a nuclear bomb, as it already has the means to deliver it as far away as Israel. Iran, by itself, couldn't possibly win a war against the West in this case scenario, but the West would certainly be no winner either. As mad as Ahmadinejad is, isn't it possible he could target the Saudi oil fields to cripple the West? That would do far more damage to the West than striking Israel alone. What if?...

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