Posted on 09/01/2006 9:05:06 AM PDT by knighthawk
Unenforced deadlines make a mockery of the UN system
SOMEHOW the approach of a deadline for one of the world's most unhinged and apocalyptically minded dictators to put a halt to his program of enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons should seem more dramatic. And yet, as the clock ticks down on another ultimatum asking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to cease and desist with his nuclear ambitions, much of the world has already shrugged its shoulders with diminished expectations. Mr Ahmadinejad knows the UN can only do so much and that Russia and China are likely to insulate it from consequence in the Security Council chamber. Iran also knows that the West needs it more than it needs the West and that slowing petroleum exports to provoke another late-1970s-style shock would be devastating to the world economy. Iran surely also remembers the UN Security Council's performance in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq – when France, China and Russia obstructed the enforcement of resolutions demanding Saddam Hussein open his country up to weapons inspectors. No wonder it sees its best strategy as playing for time while it develops its weapons program and wins plaudits for "standing up" to the Americans.
A non-nuclear Iran is destabilising enough, given its creation and backing of Hezbollah, which provoked the latest conflagration in the Middle East. A nuclear-armed Iran capable of pitching atomic weapons around the region or beyond – or, just as likely, prepared to give them to proxies to move around the globe – would be unacceptable. It would trigger an arms race between rival states in the region. Given the Ahmadinejad regime's apocalyptic talk concerning Israel and the US, it is clear that any Iranian nuclear arsenal would be for offensive, rather than defensive, purposes. The growing feeling, especially in Europe, that the world should simply accept that sooner or later Iran will go nuclear and come to terms with that fact is dangerously misguided. The cascade of negative implications that would flow from such a move are too awful to contemplate. Were Iran to successfully develop atomic arms in defiance of the UN, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a host of other international statutes, it might very well be the last nail in the coffin of the UN system. Though that body is far from perfect, in the absence of another system to mediate between governments it is all the world has. Worse, Tehran would be able to hold the region hostage to its hegemonic ambitions. In the more immediate term, the threat is that Russia or China blocks sanctions against Iran. That those two countries are closely tied to Tehran on this matter was confirmed when Iran gave an ultimatum to a Japanese petroleum company this week, demanding it start developing a local oilfield or risk having it handed to the Russians or Chinese.
China and Russia must decide to be good global citizens and put world peace above narrow economic interests by not vetoing sanctions against Ahmadinejad's regime. Failing this, a military strike against Iran's nuclear program might be the West's only option. Such a strike would not necessarily inflame the "Muslim street", which was notably quiescent after the invasion of Iraq and after Israel's recent retaliation against Hezbollah harassment. An emboldened nuclear Iran is no more in the interest of the Middle East's Sunni Arabs than it is of Australia or the US. The process of international diplomacy must still be given more time. But the world cannot wait forever. Thwarting the mad Iranian regime's nuclear ambitions by any means necessary should be a project that unites the world.
Ping
At some point the US must bite the bullet and take out the nuclear facilities in Iran, and deal with the consequences, sooner or later.
I'm sure Bush has one; I hope he follows through with it.
yep
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Iran wants to hit us with nuclear weapons through proxies. Europe is useless to us. China and Russia are our enemies. Our diplomatic and military options are poor. I am not optimistic at all.
A nuclear Iran is not only not an option, it is also not one of our options either way. While it is not wise leadership for Iammadjohn to be mouthing off about Israel and nuclear war, Iran can do this and they don't have to say mother-may-I.
Europe = dead man walking.
Why not?
I think Iran SHOULD be nuclear.......
TOMORROW!!!!
A half-dozen Minuteman III's mailed that way ought to do it!
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