Monday, September 14, 2009
Barry Rubin has a couple of must-reads on the ongoing Iran-engagement stumble/fumble. As the clock ticks on Iranian nukes, we are stuck by our own rhetoric in a diplomacy mobius-strip because the left's rhetoric has no exit strategy. There is simply no place to go outside of admitting that yes, Iran can fairly be described as part of an Axis of Evil, that they don't share the same values, and therefore the same goals, as we, and that many of the nations of the world are on their side. Facing reality and admitting that some of your political opponents had it right while you're still learning reality on the job can be a tough pill to swallow. An Introductory Guide To A Very Big Mistake: Analyzing the U.S. Decision to Negotiate with Iran's Regime and, with more detail, U.S Government Jumps Voluntarily into Iran's Trap, Pulls in Europeans, Too
Jennifer Rubin comments on the situation here:
...One wonders what Rep. Berman thinks now. The administration has made itself, and those who were banking on some onset of diplomatic sobriety, look foolish. Those in Congress who were moving forward with an array of sanctions to enhance Obama's bargaining position have been undercut by an administration that apparently doesn't want its bargaining position enhanced.
The administration has prostrated itself before the Iranian regime and afforded it still more time to continue with its nuclear-weapons program. It has signaled that it has neither the will nor the interest to set deadlines or enforce them, and that it has failed to lay the groundwork for sanctions...
Don't worry, though, at least Ahmadinejad won't be invited to dinner.
This whole kerfluffle is not about Iran posing an existential threat to Israel. It's about Israel wanting to maintain its nuclear hegemony. Did Iran send warships and submarines through the Suez canal? Do its leaders constantly speculate on how long they should wait before bombing Israel? Israel is given to its rants only because it knows that the United States will probably help it when it gets into a pickle. But this makes "analysis" like Rubin's all the more stupid because it is Israel before which the U.S. is prostrating.
Daoud is nothing if not reliably perverse in the way he looks at the world. When will he tell us about all the times Israel has talked about wiping Iran off the map or hosted conferences denying historical facts about the history of the Persian people or funded proxy terror armies to wage wage war against it as Iran does with Hizb'Allah (The Party of God) and HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement). When's the last time Rabbis have lead huge rallies with thousands of Israelis chanting Death to Iran?
Israeli hegemony? Nonsense. Israel just wants to be left alone to live in peace. It's Iran that aspires to be the regional hegemon.
When it comes to nukes, Arab countries in the region have never got themselves terribly worked up about the nukes it is believed that Israel possesses, but now that Iran is dangerously close to having nuclear weapons, a bunch of Arab countries are scrambling to put their own nuclear programs together. It's not for defense against Israel but against Iran.
Daoud: Your head is wedged so far up your butt that your diet looks like a futile attempt at perpetual motion as you feed on your own toxic waste. Get your head pulled out and take a breath of fresh air.
Add to the mix the hugo chavez regime currently controlling Venezuela.
chavez says he will provide gasoline to the islamofascist regime if there is an embargo.
You think the chavez regime wants some of those NUKES the islamofascist regime is working on?