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~Iran, however, remains problematic. Tehran's quest for a domestic nuclear programme, and international efforts to prevent it from developing weapons, will this week enter into a new phase of diplomatic brinkmanship.

Last week, tens of thousands of supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime demonstrated in Tehran in organised protests against foreign interference in Iran's affairs.

Less remarked on was the fact that a deadline for Iran to accept a UN-brokered deal passed on Thursday and raised the prospect of a fresh round of sanctions against Tehran. The country is already under three sets of UN sanctions for its programme of uranium enrichment, the process that can eventually lead to making the key components of an atomic bomb.

Instead a senior Iranian figure said the west had just one month to come up with a better deal for it to swap its low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The international community had to decide whether it will accept Iran's conditions, otherwise "Tehran will enrich uranium to a higher level," Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, was quoted as saying on state television. "This is an ultimatum," he added.

Many experts, however, think any resolution to the situation is unlikely. Critics of Tehran have alleged that the regime is using negotiations as a delaying tactic while it pursues its nuclear weapons ambitions. They say that much of the programme remains shrouded in secrecy and doubt the country's stated peaceful intentions, accusing it instead of wanting to build a bomb.

Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened by Iran, has said it will not tolerate Iran becoming a nuclear power and Israeli hawks have often raised the prospect of using a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities.

Most western diplomats believe such an attack would be a disaster that could ignite a much wider Middle Eastern conflict.

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Originally posted by kpo:
Iran passed a UN deadline on thursday (apparently):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/jan/03/obama-talks-terror-i
ran-yemen

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~Iran, however, remains problematic. Tehran's quest for a domestic nuclear programme, and international efforts to prevent it from developing weapons, will this week enter into a new phase of diplomatic brinkmanship.

Last week, tens of thousands of supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime demonstrated in Tehran in organised protests against foreign interference in Iran's affairs.

Less remarked on was the fact that a deadline for Iran to accept a UN-brokered deal passed on Thursday and raised the prospect of a fresh round of sanctions against Tehran. The country is already under three sets of UN sanctions for its programme of uranium enrichment, the process that can eventually lead to making the key components of an atomic bomb.

Instead a senior Iranian figure said the west had just one month to come up with a better deal for it to swap its low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The international community had to decide whether it will accept Iran's conditions, otherwise "Tehran will enrich uranium to a higher level," Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, was quoted as saying on state television. "This is an ultimatum," he added.

Many experts, however, think any resolution to the situation is unlikely. Critics of Tehran have alleged that the regime is using negotiations as a delaying tactic while it pursues its nuclear weapons ambitions. They say that much of the programme remains shrouded in secrecy and doubt the country's stated peaceful intentions, accusing it instead of wanting to build a bomb.

Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened by Iran, has said it will not tolerate Iran becoming a nuclear power and Israeli hawks have often raised the prospect of using a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities.

Most western diplomats believe such an attack would be a disaster that could ignite a much wider Middle Eastern conflict.

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Next move, more sanctions?

Heads should roll

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Careful, Gino - Next thing you know, Geezer will be accusing you of loving Iran and hating the U.S. :)

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Umm, you DO realize even our own intel goons, who have every reason to shovel that shit as fast as Nigerian yellowcake, have privately and quietly determined that document is a forgery, right ?

http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/12/u-s-intelligence-found-iran-nuke-doc
ument-was-forged/

Of course, finding that admission buried under the landslide of propaganda

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Careful, Gino - Next thing you know, Geezer will be accusing you of loving Iran and hating the U.S.

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Originally posted by kpo:
I should make it clear that I'm not trying to beat the drum for war here (I'm not in favour of war), just pointing out something I see as a Real World 'storm on the horizon'.

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Umm, you DO realize even our own intel goons, who have every reason to shovel that shit as fast as Nigerian yellowcake, have privately and quietly determined that document is a forgery, right ?

http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/12/u-s-intelligence-found-iran-nuke-doc
ument-was-forged/

Of course, finding that admission buried under the landslide of propaganda

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I think the article you linked is propaganda: "U.S. intelligence has concluded..." - by 'U.S intelligence' it means a former CIA guy 17 years out of the service, with unidentified 'sources' and his own clear political agenda:

“'The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis and occasionally from the British government,' Giraldi said."

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Careful, Gino - Next thing you know, Geezer will be accusing you of loving Iran and hating the U.S.

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Or of loving Iran just for hating the U.S, and being willing to overlook all of Iran's faults and abuses, even those far worse than the U.S's. George Galloway Syndrome.


Heads should roll

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Which faults and abuse do you refer to ?

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lets look at a West - Iran timeline to see why Iran may feel some hostility towards the West

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Iran has a unique system of government, but even with its faults is much more democratic than Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt

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Originally posted by kpo:

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Which faults and abuse do you refer to ?

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Iran's...

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lets look at a West - Iran timeline to see why Iran may feel some hostility towards the West

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You can't blame all of the faults and abuses of Iran's government on the West's past behaviour.

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Iran has a unique system of government, but even with its faults is much more democratic than Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt

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Keep thinking about it, reading up, and watching the news. You might arrive at a moment of clarity where you see elements in Iran's regime and society that are just as or even more ugly than what you hate the U.S for.

You take the side of anyone if it's against the U.S, even if the U.S has the rest of the international community on its side and you are defending an international pariah. Hence 'George Galloway Syndrome'.

Heads should roll

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Actually, imma top that, having recently read an excellent piece by Ray McGovern, I think, involving how our supposed intel agencies run over even presidents cause no one seems to have the balls to stop them.
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2009/122209McGovern.shtml

Case in point, as McGovern has dug up for us, a 1963 editorial written by Truman himself, which was only printed in the early edition as the CIA forced the paper to pull it within minutes of hearing about it.
http://www.maebrussell.com/Prouty/Harry%20Truman%27s%20CIA%20article.h
tml

So it really does beg the question of who is REALLY in charge, when they can make demands of, and ignore orders from, our supposed highest authority.

And just how many subpeanos is the USDOJ currently laughing off, hmm ?

I already had my say on that, and still think that the CinC is well within his right to order military action against them assholes at Langley if they don't toe the line, cause they're to my mind more dangerous terrorists and a greater threat to our nation and it's people than any other.

-F

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Now point out the specific faults you are finding so wrong to justify this policy

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The history of US intervention in Iran alone would justify the desire for a nuclear deterrent, not to mention they have Israel, Pakistan, and India to content with... ( all nuclear powers )

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Posted by KPO:

Or of loving Iran just for hating the U.S, and being willing to overlook all of Iran's faults and abuses, even those far worse than the U.S's. George Galloway Syndrome.

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Originally posted by kpo:

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Now point out the specific faults you are finding so wrong to justify this policy

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The UN policy of opposition to a nuclear Iran? It's justified by the fact that a nuclear-armed Iran would be dangerous and destabilising to the region and the world, possibly triggering a whole middle-eastern arms race and just generally dealing another blow to the movement for nuclear disarmament/non-proliferation.

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The history of US intervention in Iran alone would justify the desire for a nuclear deterrent, not to mention they have Israel, Pakistan, and India to content with... ( all nuclear powers )

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So are you happy to see a nuclear-armed Iran? Or do you *want* to see a nuclear-armed Iran? Are you happy to see a civilian nuclear programme in Iran, and trust them to be entirely peaceful about it?

Because being cynical about Western nuclear arsenals/track record on world peace is one thing, but actively championing the nuclear rights of a country with an ugly regime like Iran's is another matter.

Heads should roll

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By the same token, couldn't it be said of you that you love the U.S. JUST FOR hating Iran, and are willing to overlook all of America's faults and abuses, even those far worse than Iran's?

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Cheney, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz were all involved in trying to sell them US reactors

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2067

and your calling them an ugly regime ?

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they are fairly democratic next to the principal US allies in the area...

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I'd have to say I'd trust them more than Pakistan, India or Israel.

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How much do you know about Iran and it's people ?

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...my backing US attempts to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is not equivalent to Gino backing Iran's attempts to *acquire* nuclear weapons.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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...my backing US attempts to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is not equivalent to Gino backing Iran's attempts to *acquire* nuclear weapons.

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That's a cute tactic, but it's a false equivalency. Saying that you can understand why Iran might WANT nuclear weapons, and that they have some legitimate historical gripes with the U.S., *IS NOT THE SAME* as saying that you really, really, really want Iran to have nuclear weapons because you just love them so very much and want to cuddle with them.

I can honestly say that I can understand some of Osama bin Laden's gripes with the U.S., and that doesn't make me an ally of his, an admirer of his, a Muslim, or any kind of terrorist. It just means that I can understand more than one side of an argument.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Actually I would argue if Iran had a hand full of nuclear weapons it would stabilize the region.

It would be about the only thing to end the nonconservative drive in the US to attack them...

might stop Israel from rattling their sabers, and with Iran on a equal footing detente could be achieved. Right now they are the only Muslim country that doesn't follow Washingtons lead, therefore they represent the interests of a large part of the middleeast ( and Africa, and Asia )who have nobody else to speak for them...

That could be very valuable in starting a dialog, and another thing that could end this cycle of war.

Practically, I wish the world free of nukes...

Realistically, it would solve some problems



Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"