Sunday, February 19, 2012

Iran could plunge Middle East into new cold war

If you've been checking out the international news sites this weekend you've seen some variation of that headline.

It's a quote from British Foreign Minister William Hague. Does serve to catch the eye, doesn't it? When you see "Iran" and "plunge into war" you want to say oh-oh!

Or maybe not.

Could Hague really be saying that some options are now off the table? After all, given a choice, it's not a hard one to make between a "hot" and a "cold" war. Is the "hot" option off the table?

Hague has been right up there with Hillary and some of the GOP candidates in making bellicose statements about Iran. I read this as a ratcheting down by several large degrees.

Similarly, the anti-Assad rhetoric seems to be calming just a bit. Is it possible that the NATO/Pentagon brain trust doesn't have the stomach to go another round in the Middle East at this time?

Or with a number of NATO political leaders facing difficult election campaigns, have they decided that boots on the ground in Syria or an attack on Iran would be prejudicial to their chances of re-election?

Either way, looks like we're seeing  a subtle ramping down of the war talk.

Or maybe it's just the calm before the storm.

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