Questions
According to Robert A. Pape, What is the main strategic objective of suicide terrorism and to what extent is it effective, if at all?
Terrorism is a strategic effort to achieve political goals through intimidation and fear. The targets are governments, and normally the objective is to make them change policies or withdraw forces from a given territory the terrorists view as theirs. Suicidal terrorism seeks to maximize the number of casualties at the cost of losing support to the terrorist cause. Coercion and the threat of future of even more attacks are what create the political leverage in suicide terrorism, convincing the other party that they are vulnerable to even more attacks because a suicidal attacker cannot be deterred by a threat of retaliation. Suicide terrorism has limited effectiveness. It might coerce states to abandon modest goals, but not goals that are central to their wealth or security, and it only seems to work with democratic governments.
In the case that Iran becomes a nuclear power, a containment and deterrence strategy is the best response. The first step is a containment effort against Iran´s ambitions for hegemony in the region. The U.S. can rely on its considerably superior military power and the aid of sheikdoms on the region, which makes reinforcing those countries with high technology military forces an important strategy. This would assure that Iranian forces can be swiftly stopped in case they decide to attack any neighboring countries. Secondly, the U.S. should make it clear that they would be committed to use nuclear retaliation should Iran use nuclear power against its allies, this would also forestall any ripple of nuclear proliferation in the area.
According to Hans Morgenthau what is the supreme virtue in politics as seen by the "realist" school?
Prudence, the pondering of consequences of alternative political actions, is the supreme virtue in politics. Universal principles cannot be applied to the state, concrete circumstances of time and place must be considered. States cannot act in defense of one moral principle, even the noblest one, if it gets in the way of successful political action.
What is the relative stability of first strike and second strike nuclear capabilities?
First strike stability exists if two nuclear powers do not believe the other is motivated to strike first. Second strike capabilities help assure this stability if Iran becomes a nuclear armed country. It increases the cost of striking first in fear of massive retaliation from other countries like the U.S. or Israel. Second strike capabilities mean that, in the case of a first strike, the affected country would still have massive retaliation capabilities. Israel has assured itself second strike capabilities.
References
Barry, Posen. A Nuclear-Armed Iran: A Difficult but Not Impossible Policy Problem. New York: The Century Foundation, 2006. Report.
Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Pape, Robert. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." American Political Science Reviewl 97.3 (2003): 343-362.
