Would the U.S. behave differently if it were in Iran's place? Obama is beginning to sound like a Republican: War is peace & peace is war.

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In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, President Obama said that Iran would not be allowed to "game the system."

"But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war."

Just who is "gaming the system" here?

Is there an Iranian navy positioned off a North American coast? ANY coast, other than its own?

Is ANYONE giving Iran 114 billion in direct aid to do their bidding? Does Iran have a control center in Manzariyeh (..نظريه) from which drones are directed to assassinate American men, women & children? Israelis? Andorrans? In the case of the Andorrans, probably not because they have the second highest life expectancy of all people on earth (82). The U.S. is currently no. 41. Do you suppose Manzariyeh has whore houses & casinos?

Is Iran involved in TWO illegal wars of occupation?

Does Iran have some 720 military bases on every continent in most countries across the globe?

Is Iran spending $57,077.60 per minute on a war in Texas? Saskatchewan?

Has Iran dedicated $1.03 trillion in fiscal year 2010 for "defense." Well, no. They have dedicated 6.2 billion. Saudi Arabia has decided to spend 25.4 billion. Israel's 2009 defense budget was 53.2 billion, with a little help from the U.S. Andorra doesn't have a defense budget because it's taken care of by France & Spain.

Israel has some 400 nuclear warheads.

So, the voice of Imperial America is threatening to punish Iran for her belligerence. Iran is intimating that it may develop nuclear weapons to defend itself. From what? In 2006 the American nuclear arsenal stood at roughly 18,561.95 kilotons with an additional assortment of 165.71 megatons of incomprehensible destruction deliverable more or less anywhere on earth. These numbers are ridiculous & dizzyingly absurd. If the reader would like to take a shot at doing the math in order to understand where we were under the helm of a Republican Congress & a Republican store-front president in 2006, go here.

The heart breaking truth is that Obama had absolutely no choice but to accept the sword handed to him by George II's Republicans, a hodge podge of pathetic Democrats & the Pentagon. If he had tried to keep his campaign promises he would have been toast in three months or less.

What should Iran think about this? What should Iran do about it?

What would you do if you faced yet another American president holding his imperial sword to your throat?

What would you do if you were an Islamic leader struggling to hold your country together after decades of attempts by "Christian" British & American governments to dismantle your country, loot it of its resources & turn it into a eunuch, client state & you were told that this time the sword at your throat was there in your best interests & to protect the rest of the world from you?

Is a president elected by telling those who elected him that he represented real change, that he would end the unilateral wars of occupation, that he would rein in the unimaginable power of America's military industrial complex, that he would renew America's integrity & respect for international law who can so reflexively raise that sword to your throat a man to be trusted? Is a country that tolerates such behavior to be trusted?

Is a president & the country which behaves in such a way truly Christian? Is it moral in any meaningful sense?

The answer to many of these questions is that you would do precisely as Iran is doing & to the rest the answer is no.

Authors Website: www.abqmurals.com

Authors Bio:
Richard W. Overfield is an artist/writer currently based in New Mexico after living in Vancouver, Canada for 20 years.His paintings are represented in over 300 public & private collections in the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, France, England, Japan & who knows where else. Paintings have a habit of migrating to strange places. He has done numerous murals in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California & Kansas. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Northern New Mexico Regional Art Center in Española, New Mexico.