We're going to be talking about Iran and its continued nuclear ambitions on the morning show, and so I thought I'd put up a helpful mappie of the region, showing just what we're dealing with when we're talking about Iran, and what that country wants. Iran seems quite clearly to want to possess at minimum, nuclear technology. But given the neighborhood they live in, you almost can't blame them. To the east of Iran is Afghanistan, which is teeming with enemy Sunni al-Qaida and related militants. Just to the south/southeast of Afghanistan, bordering Iran's southeastern flank, is nuclear-armed Pakistan (and just to the east of that is nuclear India. To the northwest of Iran is Turkey, with it's constant potential for war over breakaway Kurdistan. And to the west is Iraq, where 140,000 American troops -- all potential targets of an Iranian counterattack -- are mired in hell. To the Southwest -- rival oil power Saudi Arabia, which just happens to be considering, if the rumor mill is to be believed ... acquiring nuclear weapons capability of their own. And then, of course, there's Israel, also nuclear armed, and constantly threatening a pre-emptive strike. Wouldn't Iran's leaders have to be insane not to want nukes? Now, I'm for counter-proliferation, and a nuclear free Middle East. But given the geography, and the geopolitics, I don't think there's any real way to stop the nuclear fever from spreading.
Meanwhile, the top U.S. Navy commander who has been rattling the saber -- and our collective nerves -- over Iran, says Tehran started the provocation in the Persian Gulf and that the U.S. movement of carrier groups was merely a response.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
