On 'Existential' Threats
A word that has replaced thought
by James Fallows, theAtlantic.com -- Feb 20 2015
[...]
We've reached the stage where a particular word obscures more than it clarifies about Iran and its nuclear prospects. That word is "existential," as in this now-standard formulation from Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"A nuclear Iran is an existential threat on Israel and also on the rest of the world."
Nevermind that Netanyahu's own
spy agency, says otherwise.
Nevermind that Iran is pursuing 'peaceful' negotiations ...
Iran: Some people consider peace 'an existential threat'
by Mick Krever, CNN -- March 5, 2015
London (CNN) -- [...]
"The only explanation that you can have here is that some people consider peace and stability as an existential threat," Javad Zarif [Iranian Foreign Minister] told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
"Because a deal cannot be threatening to anybody unless you want conflict and tension and mistrust and crises."
[...]
"People have been predicting for the past 20 years that Iran was a year away from making a bomb, and that prediction has been proven wrong time and again," Zarif said.
"But unfortunately that is a reality, that this hysteria that has been fanned continues to be fanned. And we try to resolve that problem."
[...]
Nevermind that Iran is helping its beleaguered neighbor, to fight the real 'Existential' Threats, plaguing the area:
Iraqi forces push toward Tikrit as they seek to dislodge ISIS
by Ben Wedeman and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN -- March 4, 2015
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- [...]
The operation is part of a wide-scale offensive to retake Tikrit and Salahuddin province ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday.
It has highlighted the role played by neighboring Iran in the fight against ISIS, at a time when the United States and five other world powers are negotiating with Tehran on a controversial deal to curb its nuclear program.
The semiofficial Iranian FARS news agency reports that Qassim Sulaimani, the commander of the elite Iranian Al-Quds Brigade, is helping oversee the operation to retake Tikrit.
Iran has provided advisers, weapons and ammunition to the Iraqi government. According to the Pentagon, there may be Iranians operating heavy artillery and rocket launchers as well.
[...]
Nevermind all that. Netanyahu has his staked out his own '
phantoms' to hound -- forever in his rhetorical sights.
With no room for co-existential "peace." No room for co-operative co-existence.
It's enough to make one wonder: Who is the aggressor again ... and who is the aggressee?