As the leader of the world's sole acknowledged super-power you are entrusted with the world's security, much to the chagrin of some lesser petty nations and bad guys with the nuclear itch. A whacked rogue state is caught building nuclear weapons. This rogue state, with a history of providing terrorist organizations with financing and conventional weapons and breaking its word to sucker diplomats, has already made several uniequivocal pronouncements about its intended mischief.
What do you do?
A) Call France. Leave a message for Jack asking him to please return your call at his earliest convenience. Give your cell number.
B) Call the UN. Make an appointment for elevenses with Kofi Annan sometime in the upcoming week. Purchase a pound of assorted tea cakes and stare at the nice Whitehall wall calendar.
C) Just hope everything works out aces. Stand on your lucky foot and recite, "NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO". Check CBS News occasionally for developments and any news on your lost years in the ANG.
The answer is, of course, "A". Call Jack. Chances are Kofi is one pillow over, so that's a two-fer. And Kofi never goes to a pajama party without Mohamed ElBaradei to check under the bed. So that's a hat-trick. And Mr. ElBaradei already has his fingers crossed, so that's the lot.
Iran is demanding that it be allowed to make an exception in its commitment to freeze all uranium enrichment activities so it can operate about about two dozen centrifuges, diplomats said Wednesday.The Iranians have told the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — that they want to operate the centrifuges "for research purposes," the diplomats told The Associated Press.
But experts estimate Iran is not far away from being able to run the 1,500 centrifuges that are needed for making the amount of highly enriched uranium — about 45 pounds — needed for one crude weapon a year.
[All emphases added.]
Nice going, ace-Euro-giveaway-committee. That lasted all of, what? A week and two days. Iran clearly percieves the might of your beg.
FROM POWER PROGRAMME TO BOMB, IN A FEW STEPS
In 1995, Iran signed $940m in contracts with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy to complete a commercial nuclear power plant, and instantly became part of the nuclear weapons proliferation puzzle. Why, the experts began to ask, would Iran, a nation with huge supplies of natural gas, commit itself to an expensive nuclear power programme that could not possibly generate electricity as cheaply as its natural gas programme - unless of course the real plan was to gain the capability to make its own nuclear weapons.
Duh.
It is clealy in France's interest for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Even France realizes that a policy of attempting to match the US arsenel is a non starter. So instead, France has elected to booby trap what remains of her sphere of influence with nuclear weapons. To avoid any more economic blows like the loss of her client in Iraq.
As a french iranian, my highest desire is to see the mullah regime fall down and iranian people being freed , at last of religious tyranny.
Nonetheless, i feel a guilty pride in watching iranians play such a skillfull game at conning the euros!
Witnessing the land of liberte, egalite , fraternite AND laicite bending over before this theocratic regime,(to save a dozen industrial contracts)is a testimony to iranian "negociation" talent.
The down side of it of course is that my people will suffer a few more years of stoning, public lashing and hanging, but hey, they will die knowing that it was done for the sake of regional stability and of course, a multipolar world....
I don't think the mullahs are "fooling" the French but they're secretly working with them to undercut the UK position on the nuclear technology issue. The dye's been cast.
The UK's the one being duped.
