Reminds me of this editorial cartoon....
Iran's trying to run out the clock in the hopes that Hillie or another Dem is elected in '08.
Posted on 09/01/2006 9:12:55 PM PDT by familyop
SO, what now? Iran has defied the UN order to stop its most controversial nuclear work.
It looks as if there will be a fudge by the European Union, dragging the US along behind. At yesterday's deadline, which was supposed to be the climax of this long-running standoff, Europeans blinked first.
Germany and Italy, in particular, have taken the view that more talks would be preferable to sanctions, even at the cost of blurring the force of the UN Security Council demand.
That has played into the hands of Russia and China, who never much wanted sanctions. It has left the US, Britain and France, who favoured an immediate move to sanctions, frustrated on the sidelines.
Why the change since the aggressive brinksmanship of a few months ago? Lebanon, in a word. In the strained attempts to muster a UN force to keep the peace between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, few want to pick a new fight with Tehran. Iran has accurately gauged the limited appetite for confrontation among its adversaries and divided them.
There have been three signs this week of the fudge. First, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he and Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Larijani, would meet soon, after a phone conversation yesterday.
Second, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that although "we cannot act as if nothing had happened" in Iran's refusal, "we will not slam the door shut".
Third, the new Italian Government of Romano Prodi has made it clear that it wants a bigger say than its predecessor in determining Europe's relations with Iran. Italy, which is Tehran's leading commercial partner in the EU, with trade worth $US4.7 billion ($6.15billion), has also taken the lead military role in Lebanon, backed up by France.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy would use its seat on the Security Council from January "to make the UN hear the voice of the EU better and with more force".
These factors have blunted the plans sketched out by Britain, France and the US for imposing sanctions. One senior British official said yesterday "no one would have expected sanctions to go ahead from September 1" and that "the sanctions process will happen in parallel" with any more talks with Iran.
The US is also taking a softer line. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that even when sanctions talks began, Iran could still halt the work and be rewarded.
The "sanctions process" will begin with a meeting on Thursday in Berlin between the political directors of Britain, the US, France, Russia and China, the permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany. They will try to agree on whether to impose the softest sanctions on a list they drew up earlier this year. The list begins with penalties on people and companies involved in Iran's ballistic missile industry.
But there seems little chance of securing Russian and Chinese support for sanctions that would hit the political class and the economy generally - not even for those targeting the nuclear industry.
China has contracts with Iran to buy oil and gas, which it badly needs, while Russia has lucrative work building Iran's first nuclear power plant.
The start of sanctions talks "never meant excluding further contacts with Iran", said a British official. All the same, as deadlines go, yesterday's passed with a whimper not a bang, to Iran's advantage.
The Times
This whole UN fiasco is the proverbial accident waiting to happen. Weeks and months can pass and even IF sanctions are imposed it's obvious that with China, Russia, and other nations not really cooperating they'll mean nothing. The only beneficiary will be Iran because all this empty rhetoric and hot air will advance their agenda --- stall for time to complete enrichment of radioactive material.
NRO has even been critical of Bush for getting sucked into this kabooky dance.
I still don't think the full impact of some apocalyptic, fanatical jihadists possessing a nuclear arsenal has really hit home.
Claudia Rosett, an expert on the UN and author, has said (as recently as this evening on FOX TV) that we are delusional wasting our time with this totally dysfunctional and corrupt institution.
We are dealing with a TOTALLY DIFFERENT type of enemy here. As Benjamin Netanyahou said, it's definitely not an opponent like the Soviet Union in the Cold War. He rightly said that even though they sponsored an irrational ideology, they conducted their foreign policy rationally. In other words, they were scared to death of MAD. BUT -- not the mad mullahs who even yearn and pray for such a catastrophic day of worldly catastrophe --- and the coming of the last Immam!
I'm afraid too many think this (to us) bizarre theology can't be taken seriously. So, we do diplomatic dances and wait in vain for the 'real' and rational negotiations to begin.
But they won't and the carrots are scoffed at. Will we only wake up when it's too late, when the arsenal is there and we say, "if only we had acted when we could have!"
And off we go down the road of appeasement, where millions will likely pay the ultimate price because no one had the backbone to follow through...
Lets all look at the facts. Iran is absolutely sure that the US won't take them on right now...and they are right. With the Iraq mess and North Korea heating...now is not the time to play this game. The truth is that they are a good four to six years from actually being able to hold nuclear weapons in their hands. Even if North Korea has the technology onhand and is helping them...you are still talking about a minimum of two years. So they can all afford to delay this and play the financial game. When you hurt them financially....then you hurt the voting public there...unemployed Iranians are a bigger threat than a hundred Mullahs. So our best target right now is to damage their economy in such a way to bleed the little guy in Iran. We have time in our favor...and if all things fail....then we have a nuke arsenal ready and capable of devasting all of Iran in less than 30 minutes.
'Clear evidence' Iran is arming, training Iraqi extremists: US general
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1688792/posts
Iran stokes Iraq unrest, U.S. says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1682208/posts
General: Iran Behind Anti-US Iraq Attacks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1654015/posts
US Commander Accuses Iran of Aiding Iraqi Shi'ite Insurgency
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1654142/posts
This is like watching the parent of a middle school student issuing yet one more threat to their child that they will not enforce. The Europeons should now be made to repay the U.S. for the cost of WWI, WWII, and the rebuilding of their countries. And, if the Islamo-facists attack a Europeon country, we should just smile and say "I told you so".
Sanctions won't disarm Iran.
We will.
It isn't time yet.
Win, lose, or draw in the UN, it eats up time, until it IS time.
Unless Iran pre-empts, Iran will be disarmed by summer of 2007.
If Iran pre-empts, Iran will be disarmed sooner than that.
The axis of weasels is back in business, and with a vengeance. It appears they are aided and abetted by the State Department this time.
And you know this how?
What is even more amazing is the sequence of events thus far have been totally predictable... Without exception, when push comes to shove, the Europeans are pushing against us instead of who they claim they're trying to stop.
Reminds me of this editorial cartoon....
Iran's trying to run out the clock in the hopes that Hillie or another Dem is elected in '08.
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