Dangerous talk

From the day that Israel as a nation was reconstituted in 1948, its surrounding countries, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, etc. have vowed to destroy it. Over time and after many wars, some have made peace (such as Egypt, through the great statesman, Anwar al-Sadat) and now, Palestine is a duly constituted autonomous region which will, given that good faith and sensible minds prevail, one day take its place in the United Nations as a fully independent nation.

However, some things never change. Iran's President Ahmadinejad is now on record as calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. Nothing has been learnt in the last half a century. After 57 years, we still have an Arab leader who continues to espouse violence and destruction to solve a 'problem' - if in fact there is a problem. It seems that no amount of peace overtures and olive-branches will make any difference to some people. So long as we have people that think and behave like Ahmadinejad, the Middle East is doomed to wars and violence.

Now, Iran has always claimed that its suspect nuclear research is for peaceful purposes. The world cannot be sure anymore. Can you blame the US and Europe for taking a hawkish stance all this while with respect to Iran's nuclear ambitions?