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”.