American Government and Politics Today, Brief Edition, 2014-2015

CHAPTER FOuRTEEn • FOREign POliCy 329

While officially Communist, China today permits a striking degree of free enterprise.

China has become substantially integrated into the world economic system, and it exports

considerably more goods and services to the United States than it imports. As a result, its

central bank has built up a huge reserve of U.S. federal government treasuries and other

American obligations. Ultimately, the books must balance, but instead of importing U.S.

goods and services, the Chinese have imported U.S. securities. The resulting economic

imbalances are good for Chinese exporters, but create financial problems in both coun-

tries. The United States has repeatedly asked China to address these imbalances by allow-

ing its currency to rise in value relative to the American dollar. Recently, Chinese authorities

have allowed some movement.

www

Helpful Web Sites

The United Nations Web

site contains a treasure

trove of international

statistics. To access this

site, enter “un en” into an

Internet search engine.

at issue

Since at least 2002, Western intelligence services have

contended that Iran is attempting to develop nuclear

weapons. Iran denies this claim. Its supreme leader,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has even issued a fatwa (an

Islamic legal ruling) stating that the production and

use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam. The

Iranian government claims that its uranium enrich-

ment program is aimed only at developing nuclear

power. Yet Iran appears to be enriching uranium well

past the level needed to fuel a nuclear reactor—its

enrichment program is close to producing weapons-

grade material.

For several years, Israel has stated that it is pre-

pared to bomb Iranian nuclear sites rather than let

that nation obtain nuclear weapons. Some politicians

in the United States have argued that we should sup-

port Israel in launching a preemptive strike at Iran’s

uranium enrichment facilities. Bear in mind that,

more than any other nation, Israel may be at risk from

a nuclear-equipped Iran. In 2005, Iranian president

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a statement that was

widely translated as “Israel should be wiped off the

map.” A more accurate translation was “The govern-

ment of Israel should vanish from the pages of time,” a

sentiment only marginally less alarming.

THE TIME IS NOW—

DESTROY IRAN’S ENRICHMENT SITES

The position of the hawks on this issue is clear: The

longer we wait, the harder it will be to destroy Iran’s

numerous, well-protected, and widely dispersed ura-

nium enrichment facilities. Israel is clearly ready to

take the lead but needs U.S. support. The hawks do not

believe that Iran can retaliate by launching a Middle

Eastern war. They point out that the United States has

at least two aircraft carriers in the region that would

go into action immediately if Iranian aircraft threat-

ened Israel with conventional weapons. The fact is,

the world cannot allow a nuclear-armed Iran because

that country’s leaders will attempt to annihilate Israel.

Those leaders may also be willing to sell their technol-

ogy to terrorists.

IRAN IS NOT FOOLISH

ENOUGH TO USE A NUCLEAR BOMB

The doves on this issue contend that air strikes would

only slow down Iran’s nuclear development, not stop

it altogether. Doves also do not believe that Iranian

leaders would commit national suicide by using

nuclear bombs against Israel. Historically, nations

have become more risk averse once they have acquired

nuclear weapons. If Israel, with the support of the

United States, were to engage in air strikes against

Iran, that nation would respond furiously. Oil ship-

ping in the region would come to a halt. The people

of Iran would rally around their leaders—and Iran

would now have an even greater motivation to develop

nuclear weapons. The majority of Israelis do not want

their government to bomb Iran. Why should we?

FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Under what conditions would it be appropriate to launch an air

strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities? What results might follow

from such a strike?

SHOULD AMERICA—OR ISRAEL—ATTACk IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES?

Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.