The Iron Curtain Fell?

[sbp]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2003Dec6.html

The Soviet Union ceased its existence a dozen years ago, but it lives on in the mind of Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor. He made no fewer than four references to the USSR in his appearance Dec. 1 on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on the subject of Iran's nuclear ambitions. "The key, I believe, to Iran is pressure through the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is supplying much of the equipment that Iran, I believe, most likely is using to set itself along the path of developing nuclear weapons. We need to use that leverage with the Soviet Union, and it may require us to buy the equipment the Soviet Union was ultimately going to sell Iran." Word travels slowly in the mountains of Vermont.

[Toadman]

Someone have Leonid Brezhnev call him.

[RayH]

He's making up for all the years we used to call the USSR, Russia!

[tgxiii]

It's okay, at least he didn't claim that the Soviet Union was a continent!

Hi sbp! *waves*

[MTAtech]

I'll put up Dr. Dean any day against Bush who said:

''expectations rise above that which is expected"

''more and more of our imports come from overseas''

"100 percent of the people will get the death tax"

"if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness"

''we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun''

''babies out of wedlock is a very difficult chore for mom and baby alike''

[tony_j15]

Well, in this day and age, comments like that are almost neccesary because of all the mindless idiots. And all those statements are true(to a point). But Dean going on about USSR is something else all togather.

[MTAtech]

I make the same mistake too and surely I know the difference between Russia and the USSR. I've been saying USSR for so long, even though I know it is now Russia, that it is easy to slip back into the familiar name. I sometimes say, “Czechoslovakia” instead of the “Czech Republic,” even though a Czech girl lived with us for a year. I still can’t get used to Zimbabwe and prefer Rhodesia.

More importantly, is Dr. Dean correct about Iran and the influence Russia/USSR can exert on nuclear issues? In other words, isn’t the substance of his point much more relevant?