When Push Comes To Shove

Talk about high-risk moves. Spell out the scenario, spread the seed of apprehension, uncertainty. Then feign innocence. Nothing ventured, little gained. One avenue after another firmly closed; another sits ajar. Venture upon it, see what results. Insecurity of a former unpalatably intransigent position, for one thing.

The U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff avers how nervous-making it is to consider taking armed action against Iran. It would be, he stresses, "extremely stressful". The United States is, after all, stretched to its practical limits as it is, between Iraq and Afghanistan. And who can predict the ultimate consequences of striking Iran?

That unpredictable, fairly fearsome option. Loss of life, loss of equipment, loss of face should it not succeed in the most immediate of terms. Loss of revenues, and world upheaval in energy prices soaring sky-high in an already financially troubled atmosphere of demand outpacing supply.

These are nervous times, in an increasingly nervous world that is attempting to balance the world-altering scales of impending environmental disaster on the one hand; terrorism, both state-controlled and encouraged, and jihadist-militia directed on the other.

"This is a very unstable part of the world, and I don't need it to be more unstable"; subtle no, but words of careful wisdom born of experience in that "part of the world" where "...Just about every move in that part of the world is a high-risk move." Just so. Something in that weighted atmosphere of tribal honour and animosities; that universal psyche.

But look here, the venture has elicited some puzzling mixed-message overtures from Iran. Or not. Dire warnings of higher oil prices, and a smack-down should that country's nuclear installations be attacked. On the other hand, a renewed statement about progress in the nuclear standoff. Likely not.

Iran is looking for respect. Not warnings, not the United Nations launching additional caveats, not more stringent embargoes. This is disrespectful behaviour toward a proud country. Which itself sees no need to offer respect to those other countries it holds in contempt and promises to eradicate from its near geography.

Israel's mock run at launching a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites doesn't sit well with that country. On the other hand, Israel itself feigns outrage at the frenzy of international news outlets speculating on the imminence of an Israeli attack against Iran. Well plotted ploys to unsettle an adversary?

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not accustomed to blinking. He is supreme, after all, and infallible. His interpretation of Allah's assent and encouragement in the greater glory of Islam to continue enriching uranium is his last word. In tandem with the rest of his crew. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made that abundantly clear.

A peaceful country like Iran looking only to its country's future and stability and energy sustainability in an uncertain world, insists that provocative statements and actions are quite unsuitable communications between diplomatic and political equals.