Have you seen the movie, "The Mouse that Roared"? It is about a small duchy that decides that the solution to their financial woes is to lose a war against the United States so they can receive reparations. They "invade" during a bomb drill and can't find anyone to surrender to. Eventually they happen upon a scientist working on a real bomb. They take him captive and end up having all the power they need to negotiate.
I am also reminded of board game one of my political science classes in college played call, Guns or Butter. I was chosen as prime minister of a fictional third world power. We chose to put all of our money into industry and agriculture and not a penny into military. We then decided to agree to any treaty we were offered regardless of whose "side" that put us on and then set out to lie to the world that we had nuclear capability! The plan worked perfectly as no one ever questioned us, never demanded any evidence. We were largely ignored except when we might serve another country's interests. In the end, the two super-powers nuked each other! Winning the game was based on percentage growth in gross national product. Even without the super-powers' self-inflicted economic crash, their mad rush to spend on guns instead of butter limited their GNP growth, meaning that my country would have won even without the war!
So what does all of this have to do with Ahmadinejad? He is the mouse that roared. Is he a mad man to be feared? I'd have to say "yes." But he is also crazy like a fox and we would be fools not to engage him diplomatically. We've already seen what happens with a military response next door in Iraq, why would we want to repeat that mistake? Ahmadinejad has made a career of asking questions that embarrass us. He has called on us to live up to our Christian principles. Maybe that is exactly what we should do. If we were to show kindness to him that he did not deserve we would be "heaping burning coals on his head." That surely seems better than surrounding him with real burning coals and the death of thousands.
Yes, I realize that this goes far beyond what Pastor Tom raised today, but it is in keeping with the saber-rattling that is currently increasing in volume. Also, my condolences to Tom on the loss of his grandmother.
Blog you later,
Pastor Ian
Friday, September 21, 2007
THE MOUSE THAT ROARED
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2 comments:
Very insightful stuff. So If I need some soy butter I can call?
Aside from the fact that two superpowers nuking each other would destroy the planet your country existed in, and you and your nation would die as a result, and that the credibility of your nuclear capabilities would be questioned if you never tested a bomb, the game sounds innocuous enough. Kind of like Risk, where no one really gets hurt, or is really ever attacked or invaded like in so many games, yet so unlike the world in which we actually live.
I wish the world were like this too Ian, and that everyone played by 'the rules'.
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