Ahmadinejad, seems to be actively seeking war with the west, for reasons unknown.
People in Iran, the iranian populous are branded as traitors if they voice opposition to irans nuclear program. Probarbly because it is also the western view. Apparently people are not allowed opinion in iran, a fact backed up by the detention of Shirin Ebadi, nobel peace prize winner 2003. Ebadi is a human rights campaigner and general good samaritan. The Iranian authorities also closed down the human rights defenders center, which Ebadi backed.
Ebadi has recieved death threats since her arrest, a fact that will have been known to the authorities before her artrest. Ebadi says the people who send the threats have no personal animosity towards her, they are against her ideas....PEACE for F sake, they are against the idea of peace. The only conclusion can be that they are wanting war. Certain splinter groups in iran and government officials have warned friendship with the west is unacceptable, another underhand declaration of war. These are the people who are pulling the strings in iran, not Ahmadinejad, hes just the public face.
It wasnt allways like this, after 9/11 thousands of iranians held a candlelit vigil and 60,000 held a minuites silence. Also when we went to war against the taliban, there was a near colabaration there as well due to the fact iran nearly went to war with them 3 months prior to us.
It is also a little known fact that after we stormed into Bhagdad, Iran sent a letter to the US stating in return for a halt to US agression, iran would be completely open about its nuclear program, help to rebuild iraq, end suppport of palastine and help dissarm hezbolah.
Not long after there was a radical turn around. The Iranian attitude towards the UK consisted of accusations of a british MI6 involvement in a series of bombings in ahwaz. In 2004 it captured 8 royal navy sailors and again in 2007 it captured 15. Recently, the UK embassy in iran was overrun and the protestors described the UK as a sleeping Fox for not doing anything about israel. Like israel is anything to do with us!!!
The public Statements, the rapid turn around in policy and the continued defiance of global pressure dont tie in with past events.
There are two types of people in iran. The decent people who make up the vast majority, including government officials. Maybe Ahamadinejad may be in this group too. Then you have the extremist factions that spread throughout the country and into the goverment. It is these people who are really running Iran, Ahamadinejad is just a puppet. It is these people who will never let relations improve with the west, they want war, they are pulling all the strings and they are the ones who want war with the west.
These people need to be rooted out and removed and a stronger president installed who will stand up to the extremists if we are to have any hope at all

All the information in this thread is from the bbc and sky news websites.
I meant that the west has nothing to do with their current actions in gaza. We didnt start it and its certainly not our responsibility to end it. No more so than it is anyone elses anyway, yet the Iranians are attacking the british embassy in protest as if somehow its our job to get the israelis into line and stop this conflict. They are just looking for excuses to aggravate the west.

Technically yes, but unofficialy, self imposed and unwanted in every non western country. And a lot of western ones too. Its put us in a position where we are allways gonna be at war with someone, just like the police will never completely eliminate crime.
I suppose we cant sit back either, things would get out of controll. Like you said, damned if we do, damned if we dont. Maybe the UN should have more power to form a global defence force to take on this task, with access to military resources from any UN member state. Then there would be no one country for the trouble makers to take their frustrations out on.

Originally posted by ev0lut10n2008
...Maybe the UN should have more power to form a global defence force to take on this task, with access to military resources from any UN member state. Then there would be no one country for the trouble makers to take their frustrations out on.

Give the UN the power to control the military powers of the world and we're one more step towards NWO, no? Who would make the decisions and such for any military actions orchestrated by the UN? On top of that, the simple fact that other countries are allowing, even participating in your proposed UN military force, would be sufficient cause for many other organizations to target the countries permitting the use of their forces.
I also believe that by definition the UN would be unable to perform any military action against any member nation thus complicating the matter further.