Month: October 2013

Iran and the Long Game

As more news headlines appeared this week, one can see the signs that what is being allowed to transpire in Iran in reference to their nuclear program has all the indications of nuclear weapon technology as the desired result. To laymen the number of facilities and centrifuges that Iran wants to build and get on line does not make sense for a nation their size if the sole purpose is nuclear energy for civil purposes. The signing of a treaty stating they are against nuclear weapons means nothing. It is formality and so-called legal accountability for others to hold them to. In Iran it is a tool to allow more time to pass so centrifuges can spin and more production facilities can be built.

Russia requires a strong Iran. Russia needs a strong straw-man built in the Middle East that it can allow to “be evil” so that Russia can then gain prominence in the world as a peace and stability champion. Arming and assisting Iran also pumps much needed finances and jobs into Russia. It is a dangerous game Putin is planning and playing. Sometimes straw-men don’t behave as one planned. But for Putin, a narcissist of high degree, that scenario either does not enter his mind or he figures it will be someone else’s problem. Either way he gets what he wants. He wants to be viewed not simply as an evil self-centered man. He wants adulation and respect.

Iran – the Ayatollah and his government want a Middle East free of strong non-Muslims. I am stating it as delicately and nicely as possible. That is the simple end game. Whatever has to be done to get there is allowable, righteous and justified (also a tactic in the Jesuit and Roman Catholic playbook).

News this week from the UN’s IAEA states that Iran is one month away from producing weapons grade uranium. Later Israel reminded everyone that they will act before that reality is realized. Senators McCain and Graham wrote an article for the Washington Post sharing with readers that our government is failing in the Middle East and our interests there. The two examples they provide are the bungling of Syria and the amateur approach to Iran. Meanwhile last week it was quietly reported that the talks in Geneva with Iran were a failure. But the reader must be reminded it was not a failure for Iran for they were able to position and stall and all the while centrifuges are spinning and facilities are being designed and constructed. That is called playing the “long game”.

 

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Obama’s nuclear fumbling

The president of the USA desperately wanting to look like a foreign policy mastermind continues to play “back-channel” (on the down-low don’t you know) with Iran about the nuclear issue of their country.

Today’s Debka headline – US to Iran ahead of Geneva: Carry on enriching uranium, but cut down on advanced IR-2 centrifuges

(The headline should read: Obama to Iran ahead…)

Meanwhile leading US Senators (bipartisan even!) went to Obama with the instructions that he is not to allow Iran to continue enriching uranium. Do you plainly see what that means/implies?! So-called Congressional leadership knows too darn well what he is going to allow them to continue. “But they promised…” he says. It brings to mind the UK Prime Minister Chamberlain who was so proud he had Hitler’s promise that he (Germany) would not seek territorial gain via invasion any longer and then… KABOOM

Read the words of the journalists in Iran (see below) and then honestly come back with a reasonable rebuttal that the leadership in Iran is going to be honest and genuine ABOUT THEIR INTENTIONS AND PRACTICES .

The Week Magazine, October 4 issue has in their “How they see us” section the following story & headline:
Should Iran make up with the U.S.?

I’m not a hundred percent sure how long the link works since I am a subscriber so I am providing their content below:

It’s time for Iran to talk directly to America, said Davoud Hermidas Bavand in Etemaad (Iran). Surely it’s no accident that Presidents Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani have publicized their recent exchange of personal letters, a thaw in relations without precedent in the past three decades. Both leaders are preparing for a historic negotiation to resolve the dispute over Iran’s peaceful nuclear programs, which has crippled this country with economic sanctions. Such a negotiation is greatly desired by Iranians, who voted for Rouhani this summer in the hope that he would get the sanctions lifted and turn the economy around. While the sanctions regime has been imposed by a consortium of countries, it’s clear that “America is the behind-the-scenes force in the talks and, therefore, Iran should accept the offer of bilateral talks with America to protect its interests.”

It won’t be that simple, said Mohammad Imani inKayhan. “The problem between us and the U.S. does not stem from emotional issues to be cleared up with a handshake and a hug.” Obama’s hand “is the hand of a criminal.” It’s the same hand that, “directly or indirectly, authorized a cyberattack on Iranian nuclear installations and the killing of prominent Iranian scientists in cold blood.” It’s the hand that signed the orders to oppress the Iranian people with sanctions, causing a currency collapse and shortages of food and medicine that hurt millions of women and children. Like every American leader, Obama can’t be trusted.

Don’t worry—Rouhani isn’t that naïve, said Saleh Eskandari in Resalat. The Western press has seized on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s statement that Iran should practice “heroic flexibility” and interpreted it to mean that Iran is ready to capitulate to American demands. They should take a closer look at the origin of the phrase. It was the Prophet Mohammed who invented the tactic of heroic flexibility when he concluded the Hudaybiyya Treaty with the tribes of Mecca in 628. The Prophet compromised on the wording of that treaty, omitting references to God, and many of his followers were upset. The pact, though, brought peace for two years, and during that time Mohammed vastly increased his army, “paving the way for the conquest of Mecca” soon after. The end result, of course, was victory. In that spirit, Iran can practice heroic flexibility in negotiations today, while never forgetting that “America, the Zionist regime, and the arrogant supporters of that cancerous cell are the sentinels of oppression and injustice in the world.”

In fact, said Hossein Shariatmadari in Kayhan, the Supreme Leader himself said that heroic flexibility should be understood as the flexibility of a wrestler, who can bend, even tumble, during the course of a match. “But he does not forget who his opponent is,” or that he is engaged in combat. Each wrestling match has a winner. “Flexibility does not mean retreat.”

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