then think how much a map can tell. Sometimes it's helpful to put oneself in the position of others whose behavior you would like to influence -- even if they are implacable foes.

Surely the Times best-sellers on business strategy agree that somewhere in the top 5 "to-do" list is "know the competition." So mightn't you feel a bit antsy if you were sitting in Tehran?

Courtesy Needlenose.

[UPDATE 11-25-04] The Brooding Persian points us to this useful perspective, provided by the next National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley:
Even critics must acknowledge that the security arrangements developed after World War II, largely dependent upon nuclear weapons, were successful in giving us a Europe that has been free for fifty years from the major warfare that twice afflicted the continent in the first half of this century. Under the protection of nuclear deterrence, Europe has pursued a policy of economic and political integration that has put to rest age-old antagonisms and centuries of conflict between countries such as France and Germany. Nuclear deterrence also helped to hold off a Communist Soviet Union until the internal contradictions of that regime brought it down. In summary, "morality" must be judged in part by its effects, and if judged by these results, nuclear deterrence was a highly moral and responsible national security policy.