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Iran: A Warning From History
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become the first western leader to speak openly of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions. Drawing comparisons with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in 1930s Germany, she warned that the outside world must not make the same mistakes as it made by appeasing the Nazis.
Speaking at an international security conference in Munich, she said, “Looking back to German history in the early 1930s when National Socialism was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who said, ‘It’s only rhetoric — don’t get excited’".
"There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages,” she continued, “We want to, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear programme.”
She added that Iran had "crossed a red line" when its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the Holocaust and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Ahmadinejad "cannot expect to receive any tolerance from Germany", she said.
The chancellor demonstrates an impressive grasp of realities of the situation, and of the historical precedent of Iran's increasing threat to the west.
Her attack on the Iranian leadership - and those in the west who appear to be untroubled by the rise of this dangerous regime - comes as Iran further raised the stakes in its nuclear standoff. In response to a vote referring the state to the UN's Security Council, Iran announced an end to "snap inspections" of its nuclear sites and added that it would resume full-scale uranium enrichment - a crucial stage in the development of potential nuclear weapons.
