Did you know that as late as 1938 France and Great Britain were far more powerful than Germany?  At the time of the Munich disaster of "peace in our time" fame, either France or Great Britain alone could have kicked Germany's butt had hostilities been declared.  Both of those countries had larger armies, formidable air forces, more tanks and heavy weapons and more experienced commanders with battlefield experience.

I love history.  You can learn so much, and even better, if you missed it on the first go-round you can catch it again later because it actually does repeat itself.  Just take a look at what's happening with Iran today.  What are you willing to bet we'll act in our own best interests while our eventual adversary is weak?  Hmmmmmmm, is that a bet you want to take?

In just the past two weeks Iran has taken the following steps:

·         Launched a rocket carrying a small satellite into space. (Clearly their rocket is not yet capable of launching a nuclear weapon, but continuing to develop this working technology is their plan, no?),

·         Completed an agreement with Russia for the delivery and installation of an advanced air defense system. (Yes, backstabbing our allies in Poland and the Czech Republic really got Russia to cooperate with us big-time.),

·         Declared they have succeeded in enriching uranium to 19.75% purity, making the creation a nuclear bomb a foregone conclusion.  (Only the willfully blind, logarithmically stupid or leader of the free world could continue to hope this enrichment is for peaceful purposes.)

What has Barack Obama been doing in the meantime to mitigate these provocative acts?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Oh yes, he did make a statement that tough sanctions will be necessary and blah, blah, blah......   Oh, and he did say he was happy to see Russia blah, blah, blah.......

This is nothing.  We're France and Great Britain, looking on while knowing that a military confrontation is going to happen, but still taking no action.

But why should we care if Iran becomes a nuclear nation?  The Soviet Union was a nuclear nation and we lived with them, right?  So what's the big deal?

The big deal is that it's possible that Iran will not be contained the way the Soviet's were.  The Soviet's wanted to protect their populations.  The Soviet leaders liked the good life themselves and planned to live long and comfortable lives. 

Conversely, the Iranians are obsessed with death.  Their leaders have even made statements to the effect that death is what life's all about.  They glory in death.  They recruit suicide bombers.  They advocate strapping bombs to children and sending them into crowded pizza restaurants, for crying out loud.  Here's a glimpse of what could happen:

Remember when Saddam marched into Kuwait, thereby taking control of their oil fields and threatening the energy supplies of the free world?  Would we have taken those fields back and destroyed Saddam's military if he'd had nuclear weapons?  What will the world be like if Iran has that nuclear prowess?  What kind of blackmail will they demand?

Other countries in the Middle East, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan fear an Iranian hegemony.  If Iran goes nuclear, those countries will develop their own nuclear capabilities.  What kind of world will that be when every country in the Middle East is nuclear armed?  You think the Middle East is a dysfunctional tinderbox now?

Iran has at least two proxy "terrorist armies" in Hamas and Hezbollah.  What are the chances those barbarians will eventually become armed with nuclear weapons?  What about other terrorists like Al-Qaida and the Taliban?  Will they become nuclear armed?  What about outlaw countries like Venezuela and Syria and perhaps others?  Will they look to develop their own capabilities?

And what about Israel?  Iran has actually sworn to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.  Will the rest of the world stand by while a western democracy and ally of the United States is attacked with nuclear weapons?

In other words, the calculus of risk is hyper-inflated if these people are allowed to possess the most devastating and destructive weapons of all time.  While the scenario of a preemptive military strike is extraordinarily unattractive, the alternative is much less attractive, much worse and requires us to do what needs to be done.

We ignore this reality at our peril.

And that's all there is to it.