We Have It On Authority
We haven't gone begging for rumours; they're everywhere and duly noted. Part sabre-rattling and in part endowed with the hope that in the final analysis sanity will prevail, Iran's nuclear ambitions will be set aside by the more sober thinkers in the government, finally displacing their delusional leader convinced the appearance of the Hidden Prophet will lead a nuclear-armed Iran to the deserving helm of a rigidly theocratic world upon which Allah will render his favours.If I were to be asked what public figure I would most trust for probity and the will to do the most good for the most needful upon this planet I would select an individual whose reputation was based upon his sterling qualities as a human being translated into an international organization whose calling has been ordained by the humanitarian instinct residing deep within most of us: Bernard Kouchner.
True, this man is now also a politician, a step down in a sense from his earlier efforts at co-establishing Medicines Sans Frontieres, (and his work with the United Nations) the international organization in whose qualities, determination and outreach leaves no room for criticism. But the trust and high regard goes with the man and his estimable intellect, his humanitarian impulse and dedication.
So when France's new Foreign Minister urges restraint and a sit-and-wait-see attitude toward further truck or investment in Iran for the simple reason that the international community, likely led by the United States will not be content to sit idly by while that country achieves its goal of nuclear-ascendancy in weapon-achievement, I'm a believer.
Despite official Tehran's disavowal of any intent other than to achieve nuclear sufficiency to meet domestic energy needs in response to repeated United Nations demands that it immediately suspend uranium enrichment and allied activities meant to produce nuclear weapons, when its chattily assured president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to what he considers to be a friendly audience a totally different perspective emerges.
That's when he boasts of Iran being a global power whose intent it is to place nuclear technology in the hands of those whose mission is to confront the United States and other Western countries. He glows in the description of the 3,000 operational centrifuges, and gloats at the inability of the UN Security Council to implement meaningful sanctions. (And the very thought of gifting Islamist terrorists with nuclear wherewithal should be enough to make even the Prophet Mohammad blanch.)
Although word comes through on occasion that his hold on power is tenuous, challenged by an Iranian political and clergy elite who contest his belligerence toward the West and the trajectory of confrontation he is leading his country toward, Ahmadinejad makes no bones about how he feels; loudly censuring senior officials who call for compromise. They are, he contends, traitors. To his personal cause, most certainly.
The five permanent Security Council members are due to meet to further discuss the situation. Which, plainly put, is that of a rogue nation governed by totalitarian aspirants whose intent is to bludgeon by any means possible, including the threat of nuclear annihilation, any who are considered to be inimical to the future of Iran resplendently resurgent, not only as the singular Middle East power, but also encroaching into the world at large.
Spreading the kindly world of Islam, encouraging recalcitrant nations to merge with Tehran's ambitions under threat of the same kind of ultimate action undertaken in the destruction of the State of Israel. To which threat Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, along with Germany are destined to draft new proposals for sanctions. Two of the permanent members, China and Russia, are not enthusiastic members of this enterprise.
And Iran has other notable friends and supporters, among which are Syria and North Korea. Pakistan's generosity in sharing expertise on nuclear development benefited North Korea, which country, having agreed to step down from its own nuclear aspirations, is still busy accommodating Iran's and her partner in aspirational mass destruction, Syria. So, are we to consider that the first blow has been struck against the evil triumvirate?
Might it conceivably have been material shipped clandestinely from North Korea, along with scientific expertise to achieve a nuclear reality in Syria that was targeted by an Israel air strike? Those in the know claim a vessel delivered nuclear technology components, the cargo having been identified as"cement", days before the bombardment. If so, the targets hit by Israeli bombs were an agriculture research center for which the cement was destined.
Syria cemented its destiny in this matter, with the loss of its nascent nuclear plant, although that country denies any such rumours; not the existence of a nuclear facility meant to extract uranium from phosphates, or indeed even an agricultural research centre. According to the Syrian Ambassador to the United States any such talk is pure conjecture, in fact, "absolutely, totally, fundamentally ridiculous and untrue".
Who can argue with one holding such an elevated diplomatic station? And he's right, after all, the very thought of such plans taking shape and becoming reality in the tinder-box of the Middle East should be classified as totally fundamentally ridiculous - asinine, in fact. I'll still place my money on Israeli intelligence. And the country's strange desire to survive the plots of the enemies that surround it.
And when it comes to due diligence, the intelligence gathering of the United States, although it does fail miserably from time to time (9-11 a case in point). Time and patience, precious commodities at any time, are running out. Does the world have any other options but to hope for the best, offer a few more alternatives to fiercely committed Tehran - and then call it a day?
A day of reckoning, when the people of Iran who deserve so much better than what they're living with, will have to face so much more than they're prepared to.
Labels: Middle East, Technology, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 17, 2007
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