

Ask HN: Assassinating (Iranian) Nuclear Scientists - Fair Game in War? - jhull

I am curious what the HN community thinks about the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Do you think it is a legitimate way to slow down a nuclear Iran? Should scientists be fair game in war? pre-war?<p>The latest attacks in Bulgaria are supposed to be in retaliation [1] for past assassinations [2] [3]<p>[1] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-officials-hezbollah-attacked-israelis-in-bulgaria-to-retaliate-for-killing-of-iran-nuclear-scientists-1.452410<p>[2] http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/10354553-israel-teams-with-terror-group-to-kill-irans-nuclear-scientists-us-officials-tell-nbc-news<p>[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9266889/Iran-hangs-Israeli-agent-for-killing-nuclear-scientist.html
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Metatron
It's not fair game. But international relations are never fair game, think
about it, especially in this case where many nations are feeling very insecure
at the news that a nation partially controlled by religious extremists with an
open belief in accelerating the apocalypse is developing nuclear energy. The
gloves are off. The only problem is public support, which is easy enough on
the right-wing, let's sort out the cavemen across the ponds collective, but
the left wing, respect foreign cultures is much more difficult. And that's the
only reason a government will even pretend to 'play fair'.

Iran are being crafty. For all intents and purposes their internal movements
and actions regarding nuclear energy have been equal to or lesser than the
actions that other nations have carried out. They deny development of nuclear
weapons. They allow talks. The posture in response to threats. They allow more
nuclear auditing than Israel ever has. This is their veil of fairness. By
playing coy they leave foreign groups to doubt their intentions and question
their own governments stance, thus limiting what the government can do.

Anonymously however it's all out aggression already. The assassinations,
suicide bombings, drone attacks and disguised oil tankers that can only be
indirectly attributed to each side have only a limited impact on the public,
so the governments employ them freely.

Is it slowing down Iran? I'd say no, their nuclear programme is well under
way. However the acceleration of aggression from other nations is being slowed
by Iran's veil of limited co-operation and claims of persecution. For now it
will continue until one side oversteps the mark and can be held accountable
for their actions. If America overstep they'll be set back. If Israel overstep
it could ignite the beginning of even more severe conflict in the area. And if
Iran overstep it will end in another mid-east invasion, only this time it's
one of the big boys, a very advanced society and military, and one that is
goodness knows where with its nuclear programme, perhaps already weaponising.

