Iran

[Misty]

In a surprising twist, a new document from the CIA indicates that Iran has ceased and failed to restart their nuclear weapons development program since 2003.

- The Bush administration is keen to point out that the weapons development program existed at all, which raises some questions about Iran's true intent.

- Moderates in the US, Europe, and the IAEA seem mostly vindicated and remain committed to their current course of tough diplomacy and multilateralism.

- Russia and China have an enhanced skepticism, which could make further UN sanctions more difficult to pass, or more likely to be watered down.

- Iran, of course, frames the report as vindicating their own positions.


I think it's easy to envision the status quo persisting as a result of this development - the US will push Iran harder, Iran won't budge, Russia and China will block any UN action, and Europe will try rather futilely to make meaningful progress. Of course, the very best thing for Iran to do would be to step up negotiations with the IAEA, which would cement support from Russia and China and make it much more difficult for the US to justify military action. Whether this happens, I don't know - Iran may end up doing just the opposite, which they've done in the past in response to pressure.

 

[!Tommy]

Oh God, don't even get me started with Iran.

Actually, I believe that we really have a lot of kindergarteners on this subject. The kindergarteners are the world leaders of course. I mean this war against Iraq, Iran, and the US I means it's like a game of If I don't get my way I'm just going to cry and scream and fight. Well, not literally but instead of coming to an agreement they happiest when they're fighting. I mean this thing between them is about as dumb as nailing Jello to the wall!

I saw something about Iran on the news a couple days ago but I'm not sure what it was about. I know that we've been after them to end their nuclear program but I mean it's not like we don't have nuclear weapons here in the US. Here's what I think should happen with this situation.

Iran should just quit their nuclear program, what's the need for it anyway?
Bush should get his ass out of the entire middle east where it doesn't belong
Russia and China should mind their own business
Take away everybodys weapons
Problem solved!

 

[the gadfly]

Iran should just quit their nuclear program, what's the need for it anyway?

Under international law and treaties, Iran has the right to develop their nuclear program for domestic energy purposes. Iran is a signatory nation of all relevant treaties concerning nuclear energy and nuclear proliferation.

But, hey, the NIE just recently released said Iran shut down their nuclear bomb project in 2003.

Bush should get his ass out of the entire middle east where it doesn't belong

Agreed. He isn't unbiased. In his mind view, all Muslim nations are waiting to inflict the next 9/11 on us.

Russia and China should mind their own business

Actually, they are. Both countries have billions of dollars invested in Iran through treaties and business.

Take away everybodys weapons

Including ours?

Problem solved!

Wishful thinking.

 

[!Tommy]

That's very good thinking. About the weapons, yeah, I'd say take ours away too only for the fact that then no country would be more superior than the next country. A nuclear program wouldn't be bad as long as they used if for good instead of stupid weapons. Ash for Bush, well, I won't go there. Of course you're older than me so you probably know a lot more about this stuff that I really do, I only state what I see on TV and other forms of media, then I base my opinion.

 

[the gadfly]

Of course you're older than me so you probably know a lot more about this stuff that I really do...

Sloppy thinking. You can do better than that.

 

[Petrology]

I believe that the method to defuse this situation is to withdraw from iraq.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Because Iran didn't hate us before we invaded? That whole hostage crisis in 1979's a myth?

 

[The Big Al]

We've been fucking with Iran for decades, of course they don't like us. If we did leave them alone we might actually get a better result than the one we get from meddling.

It's amazing that Bush is still going around acting like the NIE was never released. I think it shows all he wants is another war. Though war with Iran would be a disaster for the global economy.

 

[Girafarig_Magcargo]

The problem is that this report can be spun to support anybody or criticize anybody, though admittedly this report raises a lot of questions on why Bush was using such heated rhetoric lately or why anyone let him do this.

That said, I do agree with Bush that this report doesn't let us breath a sigh of relief since the report said Iran halted its program due to international pressure and is constantly reevaluating whether the heat's off, basically, so as to restart the program.

 

[TTEchidna]

The entire modern state of the world is essentially stating you're someone's best friend with a gun pointed to their head.

 

[the gadfly]

Everyone thinks Ahmadjinedah (spelling?), the president of Iran, represents Iran. He does not. The president of Iran is not equivalent to Bush. Iran's president isn't even in charge of the country's armed forces, let alone its foreign policy.

Those powers reside in Ayatolah Khamanei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Everyone thinks Ahmadjinedah (spelling?), the president of Iran, represents Iran. He does not. The president of Iran is not equivalent to Bush. Iran's president isn't even in charge of the country's armed forces, let alone its foreign policy.

Those powers reside in Ayatolah Khamanei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

You don't need to control the army to represent a country (though he DOES represent the people, as he was elected by them). While he might not be able to declare war on anyone (has he threatened to?), he can taunt people into attacking him/the country, which will start a war.

 

[Misty]

Everyone thinks Ahmadjinedah (spelling?), the president of Iran, represents Iran. He does not. The president of Iran is not equivalent to Bush. Iran's president isn't even in charge of the country's armed forces, let alone its foreign policy.

Those powers reside in Ayatolah Khamanei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

True. The only problem here is that Khamenei rarely talks about his positions - this probably stems from his desire to stay above the factional disputes in Iran's government. So while Ahmadinejad is less important, he's far more outspoken, so he gets all the screentime.

 

[the gadfly]

And in this country, screen time equates to importance to the general public. Why else do we want to know the latest about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and O.J. Simpson?