Life, liberty and the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Why is Israel allowed to have equal rights for men and women while all Iran is allowed to have is a clandestine nuclear bomb project?

Unconditional opposition to nuclear arms used to be one of the central tenets of the left. For decades they considered such weapons to be a scourge on mankind and derided the notion that nukes could create a balance of terror which prevented another world war.

It didn’t matter if they were hard core socialists, ideological environmentalists or just people who wished for a better world. All people who slanted to the left opposed nuclear weapons with a passion. And indeed, throughout the second part of the 20th century leftists, and many people of good will, turned up in their hundreds of thousands to demonstrate against atomic weapons and nuclear energy.

But no more. The left no longer categorically opposes nukes or nuclear power. They no longer fear proliferation or a nuclear apocalypse. They are ok with nukes now.

What happened?

Iran happened. All they needed to put their fears at rest was an Islamic regime with an apocalyptic worldview and the intention to eradicate Israel. Who knew that the promise of millions of dead Jews could make nuclear missiles seem acceptable to vegetarians?

Activists on the left frequently argue that it’s perfectly reasonable for Iran develop doomsday weapons because Israel also has them. Great argument! But why does this wonderful line of thinking not extend to other realms? Equal rights for men and women for example. Just like nuclear weapons, Iran doesn’t have them while Israel does. How fair is that? Why is Israel allowed to have equal rights for men and women while all Iran is allowed to have is a clandestine nuclear bomb project?

If the left cares so much about injustice, why not convince Iran to treat women in a decent way? Iran won’t have to risk war or even sanctions to achieve that. Isn’t this a much worthier (and smarter) cause than nukes?

No. Not if you ask the Left it isn’t. The fact that women in Iran are treated as cattle doesn’t bother them. That’s just the way things are. Some nations treat women like dirt, others don’t. Big deal. But that Israel has nuclear weapons and Iran does not, that’s intolerable.

Why? Well the answer is obvious. The Left has discovered an hitherto unknown right to nuclear arms. It’s not equality that is a human right but nuclear weapons. Sure, in the past they may have believed nuclear weapons were a curse. But since the Ayatollah’s appeared on the scene and stared to fantasize about a nuclear apocalypse, the Left realized that you cannot have dignity without nukes: Everybody in this world has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Especially religious fanatics eager to use them.

I guess.

It’s either that or a huge group of people are perfectly happy to accept the end of life on this planet just because they can’t stand Israel. Which strikes me as a little exaggerated.

Yet the same people who in the past were freaking out at the thought of six relatively stable and relatively sane nations owning nuclear weapons are now telling Israelis to calm down in the face of a nuclear Iran. How is that possible? Why should we believe these people suddenly discovered a new faith in deterrence? Do they really consider Ayatollah’s more trustworthy than Ronald Reagan? This is the left we are talking about, they thought Reagan was sure to start World War III and end humanity. And now they tell us to relax and trust the Ayatollah’s won’t do something stupid? Sounds pretty suicidal to me.

Then again, what in the current Leftist ideology is not suicidal? They are more than happy to destroy economic prosperity as long as you give them some kind of reason, no matter how outlandish. They strive for the dismantlement of nation states, which guarantee our freedom and safety. And want to put in place huge supra-national organisations where power is centralized in the hands of the view. A guarantee for tyranny if there ever was one. They get all warm and fuzzy when talking about multicultural societies even though they are a recipe for civil war. In addition they oppose missile defense as well as preventing dangerous countries from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Perhaps it’s not so strange the left wants to protect the Iranian regime. They both want to put an end to life on this planet as we know it.