The following editorial appeared in the Seattle Times:
Hardball diplomacy and enlightened self-interest might get Iran seriously talking about its nuclear program. World leaders, and aspiring U.S. presidential candidates, please take note.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can compete with bluster and bellicosity, but he is no match for a united front.
No one trusts Iran. No one. Its leaders can argue their nuclear intentions are benign — generating electricity and medical research — but the claims only make eyes roll.
The Obama administration aggressively challenged Iran’s production of nuclear fuel and its path to nuclear weapons.
America’s persistent voice is important, but the stakes ramped up with the European Union’s oil embargo.
Enlightened self-interest was not only registering in Tehran, but Beijing as well. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ended a trip to the Middle East with blunt talk about Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s pretensions in the region already upset its neighbors, where the fault lines are religious as well as political.
China does not want any distractions to complicate its economic ties with Saudi Arabia, its primary source of oil imports.
China finding its voice on the international stage will be seen as diplomatic competition, but it also represents potent leverage to be employed in exactly these circumstances.
China is telling its No. 3 supplier of oil to behave. Add the customer base of the EU’s 27 nations and Iran has an incentive to pay attention.
The international community already called Iran’s bluff by offering to provide reactor-ready fuel rods if it would get rid of its enriched uranium stockpiles. Iran brushed the offer aside.
No talks are scheduled, but the key players — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany — are likely to respond.
Comments (13)
Add commentDiplomacy? Economic pressure?
Oh, that's so 'last century'.
We prefer raptor drones and boots on the ground these days, costs be damned.
The UN is a dangerous proposition
When was the last time the UN's political leverage ended in anything other than a draw (38th Parallel, '53)? These are high stakes we (The US) are dealing with and it's foolhardy to let the UN sort it out. Yeah China's engaged; yes, China is using UN protocols, but it happens to be consistent with the PRC's interests. On the other hand, Obama has said a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable". Just what does "unacceptable" mean? In the end, "should'ves" don't count; should'ves are unacceptable.
Do you think Iran isn't
Do you think Iran isn't fearing the U.S. so much?
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, the U.S. spy chief said Tuesday.
Or this -
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has officially launched a Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" – remarks that were an apparent dig at the US and the west. (We all know that Chavez and the Castro brothers are his new, best friends.)
Or this -
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo held secret talks with top U.S. officials in recent days, cursory comments made during a public Senate hearing indicated on Tuesday. (Atleast Israel is taking Iran seriously.)
How do you manage to fit all
How do you manage to fit all those bogeymen under your bed, Calypso?
@p, get back under your rock.
@p, get back under your rock.
I can't, it's full of those
I can't, it's full of those bogeymen you invented. They also drank all my beer.
I hope you're happy.
What Iran fears:
the theocracy is leery of an increasingly unruly young population that they won't be able to keep a lid on. The ayatollahs are crazy enough to ride the torpedo all the way into the boat, but if they don't have their people under absolute control (not just a police state, a THEO-state) -- if they don't have the majority on board -- then being crazy enough won't be enough to maintain such a menacing posture.
No doubt...
...they'll be greeting us as liberators. Just like...that last...country...
The boogymen are real.
Read the AP wire about Latin America. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been rubbing elbows with Chavez, Castro, Ortega and Correa in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Ecuador respectively. This tour was all about hanging with anti-American presidents to shoot the bull and flip us the bird. Probably peddling Qader missiles in exchange for future nuke bases. Why else would he hang with these guys? Pork tamales?
looking south
Your right skirkz & with the most violated border in the world both parties continue to put us in jeopardy, all for the votes they think will keep their jobs safe. When the next attack comes its our government that will pay the price. The lack of credibility will be so overwhelming that it'll be time for us to take back our nation, our futures & that's not going to be pretty (kinda like porcupine kisser).
The bogeymen are SO not real.
The bogeymen are SO not real. That's what makes them bogeymen. A few tin hat dictators (and a couple wannabe dictators thrown in--Chavez is not a dictator just yet) doesn't a threat make.
I don't know if you all realize this, but the U.S. has the largest, most powerful military in the world. When we are attacked in the future, it will not be a conventional attack. Nor will it be a missile attack (you think the leaders of Iran, Bolivia, and every other country don't realize their lives and countries would be forfeit if they dared to nuke ANYONE?). It will be a covert terrorist attack, just like every other successful attack on the U.S. since World War II. And conventional military forces are very, very bad at dealing with these kinds of threats, which is why they're so commonly used against the world's only superpower.
Guys, sitting at home with the lights off, gun in hand, pissing your pants in anticipation of the next attack is not the way to get anything done.
You sure won't get anything done...
...sitting around with your (or someone else's) tool in your hand. And, if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't give you pause, you are in the dark.
Nope, my lights are on.
Nope, my lights are on. Ahmadinejad is essentially a spokesman for Ayatollah Khamenei, who rules Iran. So I'm not sure why you even care much what Ahmadinejad has to say, since he's not the boss.
If you think Iran is a threat, then you must have been cowering with fear over Desert Storm (although you'd think you'd have learned something from it). The fact of the matter is that no military on the planet rivals ours. Iran doesn't even have nuclear weapons. And when they do finally acquire nukes, well, what are they going to do? Use them and find themselves at the business end of every other nuclear power's warheads?
Very doubtful. World leaders don't tend to want to be martyred. If any nation is a threat, it's North Korea because of their insane (and now young and possibly impulsive) leadership. But even then, China has them on a leash, and their military is still vastly inferior to ours and our allies'.