Posted on 02/28/2006 6:11:29 AM PST by Wiz
February 28, 2006: Production of nuclear material has started, the UN knows about it, and Iran doesn't care. Iran says it will promise not to develop nuclear weapons if the United States and the rest of the word got rid of theirs. Iran appears pretty confident that China and Russia will provide diplomatic support of the UN tries to stop Iranian nuclear weapons developments via sanctions.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
I can't see what Iran has to offer Russia. Russia has more oil than Iran. This nuke deal Russia is doing is small change compared to the pain Russia will suffer if Iran gets the bomb.
Russia is using Iran and other muslim nations to fight a proxy war against the U.S. Their strategy is to use these nations to weaken us.
China is also involved with N. Korea as it's primary proxy.
Iran cannot buy itself out of the current political mess. They may get China and Russia to block us at the UN; but, that body is no longer relevant, or taken seriously, and we may not even go there. No amount of money will get Russia and China to declare war on the US and those are the kinds of allies that Iran needs now. They are playing by yesterday's hand book and they have been incompetent throughout this.
Very shortsighted, though. We engaged in a cold war with them for 50 years, but did not blow them up. They won't be so lucky if Iran gets the a-bomb.
In a word: Schadenfreude
There is a generation in Russia still hurting over the loss of the cold war. Anything that makes us look bad, or hurts or interferes with our goals, is OK with them. Preferred actually.
We need to engage Russia more than we are doing. The reality is that we need Russia on our side both in this war on terror, in the struggle with China, and economically. Putin has definitely not moved in the direction that we want him to go, but in the long run, our future depends on enlisting Russia on our side, and for some reason, Washington seems unable to see that.
Hmmmm... The U.S. is downsizing its nuclear arsenal while China is making more warheads. Iran is signing energy contracts with China but asking the U.S. to get rid of its nuclear weapons? Based on what Iranian officials say, the Iranian government is comprised of hypocrites who assume no one is paying attention. The Chinese and the Americans are paying close attention, and they have limited time for official Iranian duplicity.
I agree. I don't think that Putin is necessarily calling the shots in this situation.
If I were President Bush, I would write a letter that sounds like this:
Dear Russia and China,
It has recently come to our attention that you are actively assisting Iran in its quest to obtain nuclear arms. Given this development, it will henceforth be the policy of the United States that if Iran obtains and uses nuclear weapons against the U.S. or its allies, we will regard it as a direct attack on the U.S. by Russia and China. Since you wanna play Cold War, then lets go back to the good ole days of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Love and kisses,
GWB
P.S. I wonder if Taiwan and the Chechens want to buy some suitcase nukes. . hmmmmm.
ping
The death of Communism has been the birth of state prostitution.
Bush using slang, Now thats new. The next thing bush wants to do is see the Chicom empty that whooping $800 Billion US in their reserves and spend them on $800 Billion worth of Russian weaponry. They will just have a reason to stock up.
The problem is that after Russia leaned our way, it is now leaning the other way. We really need to mix things up and see if we can change that. The most logical way to do it is is to establish more extensive commercial ties with them. They apparently are motivated by $$$, so give them a reason to be motivated in our direction.
Uhhh, yes, unlike what they are doing now, which is, well, stocking up.
bump
Russia/CIS has been engaging in a massive modernization of their armed forces. So has China.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.