There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Why should Iran have a deterrent strategy? Well, it's surrounded by hostile enemies. Both of its borders have been under occupation by a hostile superpower, the United States, which is constantly violating the U.N. charter by leaving open what they call the saying, 'all options are open' - meaning the threat of war.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Iran develops a deterrent strategy due to external threats and hostilities from surrounding nations.
Noam Chomsky's quote highlights the rationale behind Iran's pursuit of a deterrent strategy in response to a perceived threat from foreign powers, particularly the United States. The quote reflects the geopolitical tensions in the region, suggesting that Iran feels surrounded by hostile nations and emphasizes the need for self-defense against potential aggression, thus framing its military strategy as a response to ongoing threats rather than as an act of aggression itself.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on national security strategies, one might say, 'As Noam Chomsky pointed out, a deterrent strategy is crucial for countries like Iran surrounded by hostile neighbors.'
More from Noam Chomsky
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If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
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A country survives its legislation. That truth should not comfort the conservative nor depress the radical. For it means that public policy can enlarge its scope and increase its audacity, can try big experiments without trembling too much over the result. This nation could enter upon the most radical experiments and could afford to fail in them.
Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
It's the Labour Government that have brought us record peacetime taxation. They've got the usual Socialist disease - they've run out of other people's money.
We may be assured by past experience, that such a practice [as some states charging high taxes on goods from other states] would be introduced by future contrivances; and both by that and a common knowledge of human affairs, that it would nourish unceasing animosities, and not improbably terminate in serious interruptions of the public tranquility.
Only votes talk, everything else walks.
It was clear, for example, in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent.