Could Iran and the US join forces?

[Workingman]

Interesting times ahead?

New is breaking that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has sanctioned talks with US military leaders about the threat from IS savages.

Iran is the only Shia majority state in the region and IS are Sunni. Syria is also a Shia ruled state and has close contacts with Iran. Iran could be the West's only option in the region to take on IS in Syria.

When looking at Iran's nuclear desires I had often wondered whether Israel was being used as an excuse for them being necessary or whether Iran feared its Sunni neighbours more than it let on.

[Rodo]

Yes, interesting times ahead. Strange times too. And frightening ones.

I was just thinking recently that it seemed almost as if a world war was coming on.

[KateLMead]

This was not unpredictable following B'Liar invading Iraq, destabilising the whole the whole of the Middle East.
Every hour of every day we learn of more deaths savagery in all the countries now at war that is far closer than we think, innocents,suffering FOR WHAT? Our own seriously country under threat, Westminster playing games.. terrorists in Syria and elsewhere who went out to murder, now many of whom are begging to be allowed to return! Will the government consider their Uman Rites? Of course the weak idiots will.
Good ploy on the part of those wishing to return.. Active terrorists. Back in the land of milk and honey for these individuals. Thank goodness if what we learn is correct regarding Iran. A powerful nation who would knock the numbers of our forces into a top hat since this government has decided its cut backs. We are minnows.
By all accounts according to the BBC, As I have said, We are living in an Asylum, run by Lunatics. boarder control is a laugh, they just allow anyone and everyone to pass through.

[Kaz]

Yes, interesting times ahead. Strange times too. And frightening ones.

I was just thinking recently that it seemed almost as if a world war was coming on.

God forbid, but it does sometimes feel that way

[cromwell]

There has been trouble brewing for a while between Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy, and Iran and Syria which are Shia republics. A few years ago the Saudi prices were urging the USA to nuke Iran.
Saudi and Qatar have funded ISIS to fight against Syria, but now apparently ISIS have started causing trouble in Saudi Arabia itself.

So yes, maybe the USA and us need to stop trying to overthrow Assad and join forces with them against ISIS?

It's worth remembering that the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi Arabians.

[Aggers]

It all sounds worrying. I, too, feel that WW3 is in the offing - a terrible thought.

What is wrong with humans ? All other forms of life on the planet only kill for food.
We, at the top of the evolution chain, have always been war-mongers, and with all
the advances in weapons of war it seems inevitable that a world-wide war will one
day be the end of us all.

[Suff]

Actually Aggers, both Fox and Mink will kill just for the joy of killing. A Lion which has taken over a pride will kill all the young so that the lionesses come into season and it can mate with them to produce it's own offspring.

We are just more powerful and less accountable. Someone who has to kill with a knife, up close, feels the event. Someone who presses a button and hundreds, thousands or millions die, feels more remote from the act.

I don't believe we are at more risk of WW3 than we were in the 80's. Not any more. What I do believe is the levels of nuclear disarmament that have gone on over the last two decades has created an environment where smaller wars can be waged without fear of igniting a much larger conflict which will consume us all. Hence the ability to wage these wars without triggering the much larger conflagrations. The biggest risk is that some radical nutjob gets their hands on nuclear weapons and uses them.

One comment on this was very poignant during the Scottish independence debate on TV this week. Where that idiot Green was challenged about his unilateral nuclear disarmament. He was challenged that the Ukraine had unilaterally disarmed, with the consequences we see today. So why would Scotland choose to do the same.

We live in a two speed world today. There are nations you can attack and nations you can't. Those you can't are Nuclear. Those you can are not.

People forget the sheer power of Nuclear weapons. A 1megaton nuclear weapon has a 6km fireball. That is just the fireball. Blast and radiation can be felt up to 100 miles away. Each UK trident sub contains 16 missiles. Each missile can contain 12 warheads which can be targeted at an individual target. Each warhead can be up to 100kiloton.

That is enough firepower, from one Trident sub, to effectively depopulate the entire UK if they were not in shelters. We have four of them and the missiles have a range of up to 7,000 miles. This does not include nuclear fired shells with 22k range (rocket assisted), or nuclear gravity bombs deployable by our Tornado's or nuclear tipped cruise missiles fired by our attack submarines or ships.

That is the reality of the two speed world we live in today. True post WWII war is almost impossible without destroying most of the people on the planet. Wars are not fought to destroy the world. Wars are fought to gain power and destroy your enemy.

The nuclear powers of the world, today, have the power to stop any conflict stone dead within hours. Should they choose to exercise that power. But it's like the genie, once you start using it, where do you stop and how do you push it back in the bottle.

Hence these conflicts.

[KateLMead]

Brilliant post as always Suff, I hope you are right as you state in much of your post. We need a lot of reassurance the world has become a frightening place .