I take the view that Iran, like other nations that have nuclear weapons would never use them. Some of the most aggressive nations in the world already have nuclear weapons and have never used them, like Israel, Pakistan and India (in conflict with each other), China, Russia (cold war for 50 years under various extreme leaders) and lately North Korea. Nuclear weapons is something you keep to prevent attacks and gain diplomatic weight, not something you go out and use on a whim. Israel (itself a religious fundamentalist state in the guise of a western democracy) would of course hate to see the balance shifted. From a US standpoint the old arch enemy Iran may look like a completely irrational regime, but that is mostly talk (from both sides). There are plenty of well educated people in the population and they know that an attack on Israel would likely be the end of Iran. For the time being the only ones attacking other nations are the supposed good guys - from a western perspective - Israel and the US.-

Easy for you to say when you live near the North Pole.

Interesting geopolitical points of view but what does all this banter have to do with the original post? It's getting so far off topic that the thread is going south fast.As for Airbus cancelling the A380F, as much as I don't believe the A380 will be sold in great quantities, it was the only option Airbus had at this time. With only 10 firm A380F orders taking up engineering resources that could be better utilized getting the A380 back on track and the A350 rolling I think Airbus did the right thing. The loss of the A380F, in the short term, may look like a blow to Airbus but it shows some sort of commitment to concentrate on cleaning things up.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.sstsim.com/images/team/JR.jpgwww.SSTSIM.com

>I take the view that Iran, like other nations that have>nuclear weapons would never use them. >-

>Easy for you to say when you live near the North Pole.I'd say I live closer to Iran than anyone on US soil.>Not forgetting that Iran is ruled by a radical fanatic who is on record >as saying that he would like to see "Israel wiped of the map" I dont >like the idea of him getting his hands on nukes.But even he knows that he would only get one strike before being wiped out himself. That's how nuclear war is, and that's why nobody uses those weapons. Even North Korea (and if Kim Jung Il isn't a lunatic...) settled for blackmail. Ahmadinejad's status as a lunatic may also be somewhat blown up, since he speaks more freely when he's pretty much an outcast from the diplomatic circuit. The anti-Israel sentiments are common in the region and easy to understand (though not condone) even for an outsider.-

Your post is blatantly political and has no place here.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Too many of the posts in this thread are blatantly political.The Moderators have clamped down on abusive posts and I believe that we should all think long and hard before introducing politics into any thread. It inevitably seems to lead to xenophobia - anti US and anti EU sentiments - and arguments about the merits of capitalism and socialism, etc etc. They inevitably generate more heat than light and usually lead to the thread being locked - often before the real subject has been fully developed.I can find many other forums to discuss politics in where the points are fully developed. I come here to discuss flight simulation, not to read a limited sub-set of political views.

Well, can't say I didn't see this coming...UPS just cancelled their entire order for the A380F after EADS stopped work on the F (apparently without telling their 380F customers...err...I mean customer, without the "s" at the end).http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/03/02...reut/index.htmlIt'll be educational to watch the bickering spin up to full PRF as this adds fuel to the EADS implosion and spins off even more cuts on the unproductive Airbus production lines. Watch the nationalism kick in here...this is going to be a very interesting test of European unity...German and French unions in an all-out catfight for the scraps.CheerioBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VSantiago de Chile

I agree and this thread is now locked.