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| Iran |
| EU Powers Not Sucessful in Effort to Reach Out to Increasingly Moderate Iranian Governement |
| 2003-09-20 |
| Britain, France and Germany have made an unsuccessful attempt to encourage Iran to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency rules and curb its nuclear ambitions by offering to share their nuclear technology. The incentive was intended to persuade Iran to accept tougher nuclear inspections and to halt its uranium enrichment programme. What uranium enrichment program? That was just ... contamination. Yeah that’s the ticket. Contamination. It was offered despite strong objections by the US, according to a Reuters news agency report yesterday . Keep them guessing. Mixed signals really worked well with Sadaam. Iran’s lukewarm reaction served to unite the US and European governments behind the IAEA’s tough resolution last week, which requires Iran to prove that it has no-nuclear weapons programme by October 31. Sacre bleu. That is too soon. Only free elections are fast. Inspection negotiatiations are fore..v..e..r. It it fails to do so it make face action by the UN security council action. The reported behind-the-scenes offer sheds new light on the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear activities. Tehran’s attempt to buy time on the issue has backfired and appears to have paved the way for transatlantic unity. What we need is a position we al can agree on. Lets use a catchy name. How about the Road... nah. Lets call it the Vision Quest. The Bush administration wants Iran isolated and dismisses Europe’s attempts at "constructive engagement" with reformers in the theocratic leadership. and with Cuba and with China and with North Korea and with Syria .... Iran’s decision to reject the offer will make it more difficult for the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and other foreign ministers to defend the benefits of engagement. What are these benefits? Gimme a list. Iranian officials told journalists privately in August that England, France and Germany were putting pressure on their government to accept short-notice inspections of Iran’s nuclear plants. Iran has given conflicting signals about how it will react to the IAEA resolution, but has said it will continue to cooperate with the agency. But Conservative figures advocate following the North Korean example by withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty altogether and ejecting UN inspectors. "What is wrong with considering this treaty on nuclear energy and pulling out of it?" Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the supervisory body the Guardian Council, said yesterday at Friday prayers in Tehran. "North Korea pulled out of it and many countries have never entered it." While the reformist government, led by President Mohammad Khatami, has said it will consider signing the additional protocol to the treaty which would allow short-notice inspections, Ayatollah Jannati said that would be represent "an extraordinary humiliation". The final decisions on Iran’s nuclear programme are believed to rest with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and allied senior clerics, not with Mr Khatami’s cabinet, whose powers have been systematically curtailed. Nuclear weapons are inconsistent with Islam. It must be a civilian conspiracy to undercut Isalm as a religion of peace. Insidious. The US and European governments suspect that Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and point to its efforts to enrich uranium, build a heavy water plant, and secure spent nuclear fuel, and to its contradictory accounts of its activities. Iran says its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful purposes, to meet growing demand for electricity. As for the IAEA tests which showed enriched uranium at a nuclear site, Iranian officials say the samples came from contaminated components bought on the black market abroad. I see no need to purchase compnents for a peaceful program on the black market. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #2 How 'bout the ballistic trajectory to Peace? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-9-20 2:41:03 PM |
| #1 Whew! Even with the EU stooge staff serving up a big fat one, the Black Hats go down with a called strike three. And with yet another scoring opportunity squandered, the team average is a perfect 000 and their record is 0-10. Keep spittin' & scratchin' on-camera, boyz, we've almost got that lineup card ready for the next game in the More Science vs Islamic Jihad tournament. Never underestimate the ability of the Black Hats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I love these guys. They never let me down. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-9-20 2:02:09 PM |