Iran v USSR

[toasty]

McCain is taking exception to this comment from Obama:

"Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.'"

According to McCain:

"Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment. These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080519/D90OS7100.html

Am I missing something? My recollection is that the Soviets had thousands of actual nuclear weapons pointed at us while threatening to use them. You can't really even compare the two, IMO. Is Iran a threat? Of course it is, but it's apples and oranges to the USSR.

I doubt that any of us are really old enough to clearly remember the Cold War, I understand from talking to my folks that there were times in the 60s --especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis -- that they literally thought that a nuclear attack of the Mutual Assured Destruction variety was imminent. Anyone have that impression about Iran?

Sorry Johnny Mac, but a superpower with enough nuclear weapons pointed at you to destroy your country 10 times over and a third world nation wagging its finger and trying to obtain nuclear weapons aren't the same thing. They just aren't.

[toasty]

Re: Iran v USSR

Really good post on this, IMO, which includes this observation I hadn't considered:

[T]here’s a bit of a contradiction here. Over the weekend, the McCain campaign said Obama was giving Iran too much credit, offering Iran “the status of a super power akin to the Soviets.” Today, the McCain campaign said Obama isn’t giving Iran enough credit. These guys should probably coordinate talking points among themselves before going on the attack.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15589.html

[Shpira]

Re: Iran v USSR

a bunch of paranoid cowboys...the republicans

[AntonyM]

Re: Iran v USSR

Well said, a very hidden truth some politicans refuse to see.
Nuclear war use to be right on the fringe, until till the collapse
of the USSR, but today even Putin knows how interlink their economy is with everyone else, because if he did not, you would
have seen the tanks rolling back into former Soviet territorries
in the name of terrorism. Russia is just flexing, because they can again, roll out the missles, tanks, and troops, maybe they could take the point again in Afganistan, surely the US has held it long enough. McCain is a third rate punk, who could not even hope to emulate the best of their parties former presidents, if he taps Romney for VP better hope that ship sinks or the US is F*cked.

[runningman]

Re: Iran v USSR

the republicans have turned into Nazi fascists... I used to agree with them before Bush II but now I am sick of all the fear mongering. Also that he is doing everything is his power to get into Iran to protect the Saudi's..

Books that have led me to believe this;

State of War - James Risen
Sleeping with the Devil - Robert Baer

[Kiff]

Re: Iran v USSR

*sigh* the republicans are turning into nazi facsists and the democrats are turning into socialists/communists. Where is a good third party candidate when we need it?