I believe the whole 'threat from Iran' is largely overblown.
Most of the talk from Ahmadinejad is simply posturing for the clerics beneath him. And as Cowperson pointed out, he's even starting to stand up to them now.
There has been more rallies and movements for democratic type laws and ideals as well in the past few years by the youth of the nation.
It is definitely a country that needs a lot of work and help. It's a country that has committed crimes against it's own people, especially it's women, and it should be monitored closely in regards to it's interactions with it's neighbors and the rest of the world. It is a regime that is scary and evil in many ways, I don't disagree with that.
But I do believe it's less of a threat to Isreal now than it was in the past. And is of no threat to the Western world. I don't think there is anything we CAN do about Iran, (really could we ever anyway?) but I don't think much needs to be done. Things will change there slowly.
Really the only thing that we could help with is if the citizens of the country demanded freedoms on such a scale that the government started clamping down harder on them, causing a larger incident. Then perhaps a UN force could be used to encourage a regime change.
But only if it started within the borders first. Not as a unilateral Bush/Iraq type decision. It is there country to do with as they want. And it's doubtful that they are very dangerous to interests outside their border.
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