Remember that "Axis of Evil" speech that was so criticized for the countries chosen? How he was ridiculed for having Iran, Iraq, and North Korea on the list. Funny how since then two of these countries have gone further down the road of building nuclear weapons and becoming a larger threat and Saddam had enough yellowcake uranium ore for 142 nukes.
Now what interest me is the steps we need to take to get Iran to stop weapons development. Last October the British , French and Germans brokered a deal with Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Since then Iran has pulled the seals placed on their centrifuges used to enrich uranium and are starting production on new centrifuges. Sounds much like the North Korean deal brokered by JImmy Carter where for in return for them pretending to stop production we were to pretend that they did stop production. We need to take action both diplomatically and though sanctions, but as usual Europe is dragging its feet.
We have a case where to get a resolution passed will be extremely difficult seeing that China and Russia, who are supplier to Iran’s nuclear program, will probably veto any proposal made by the security council. This is similar to what happened when Germany and France opposed the Iraq war since they had such strong financial ties there – not to mention the food for oil scam.
Senator Kerry says that if he is president he will forge coalitions and that his foreign policy is to operate only under U.N. auspices.
“I PLEDGE to you, on your behalf and on behalf of the other 96% of humanity, that within weeks of being elected I will return to the United Nations, and not only rejoin the community of nations but also turn over a proud new chapter in America’s relationship with the world.”
Why is it that he can pick a Vice President known for campaigning about "two Americas" and then believe that nations in the world can come to a consensus on anything? Europe and Asia are not echo chambers of each other and countries will always pursue their interests as they see them. I think it will be difficult for anyone to get Russia and China on the same page with us on this and even if that happens – would Iran be afraid of the toothless tiger known as the United Nations? Regardless, this will be a tough situation for whoever is president.
Reference: Weighing a strike on Iran.
1 comment
Jeff,
The yellowcake uranium was a know quantity; the 500 tons of material required to make 142 nukes were under IAEA guard. That material and the laboratory it sits in were not part of this administrations for going to war.
I don’t think anyone would argue with your point on the general unrest in the middle east. But simply conjecturing that a VP pick would not do better than the current administration has is not good enough. The mess in the middle east has gotten worse since 9/11. Many people feel the current administration’s handling of foreign policy has helped to contribute to the unrest.