Huffington Post: Israel does not have the military capability to successfully eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. Even the most successful bombing campaign would only set back the known program for a few years – without affecting any potential clandestine program. This is not classified information. Military experts are well aware of Israel’s capabilities – and its limits.Yet, the threat of military action, or rather the bluff, serves a purpose: Threats of military action militarizes the atmosphere. It creates an environment that renders diplomacy less likely to succeed – it may even prevent diplomacy from being pursued in the first place. In the Iranian case, Netanyahu’s tough talk undermines the Obama administration’s prospects for diplomacy in the following ways. Getting to the negotiating table has proven an arduous task for the US and Iran. Both sides are currently testing each other’s intentions, asking themselves if the other side is serious about diplomacy or if the perceived desire for talks is merely a tactical maneuver to either buy time or build greater international support for more confrontational policies down the road. From Tehran’s perspective, uncertainty about Washington’s intentions during the Bush administration was partly fueled by the insistence of the military option remaining on the table. Tehran seemed to fear entering negotiations that could have been designed to fail, since that could strengthen the case for military action against Iran. Today, talk of Israeli strikes has similar effects. Tehran has repeatedly failed to appreciate the policy differences between Washington and Tel Aviv, oftentimes seeing them as either a perfectly coordinated team or as a single entity. Consequently, explicit or implicit threats of Israeli military action reduce Tehran’s confidence in Washington’s intentions.
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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”
Meta
Trita parsi’s book is an excellent expose of the collaborative relationship b/t the Khomeini regime during the earlier years of the Islamic Republic and the zionist terrorist state.
Now Israel under Netanyahu and Lieberman also (1) does not accept the two state solution (2) Lieberman refuses to accept Israel’s past commitments and (3) Israel has never renounced violence, indeed use of overwhelming violence is its signature.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Israel_s_new_face_Fascism.html
David
“If Americans only knew” All one word at the ORGanism place. Details how much the parasitic welfare state rips off Americans daily.
All this while Americans themselves go without and israeli politicians are investigated for stealing. Whose getting shafted here? israel, the biggest never ending bail out in history and it still isn’t working.
Iran launches first nuclear fuel plant
Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:21:07 GMT
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has inaugurated the country’s first Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) in the central city of Isfahan.
As the country celebrated the National Nuclear Day on Thursday, President Ahmadinejad cut the ribbon at the fuel facility in Isfahan marking a major breakthrough in Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
The launch of the Isfahan facility marks Iran’s mastery of the final stage of the lengthy nuclear fuel production process.
The FMP in Isfahan will convert enriched uranium hexafluoride into uranium dioxide (UO2) powder which will later be processed into pellet form.
The pellets will then be stacked into tubes of corrosion-resistant metal alloy called fuel rods.
The finished fuel rods will then be assembled together to build up the nuclear fuel core of a power reactor.
http://www.irdiplomacy.ir/index.php?Lang=fa&Page=26&DWritingId=174&Action=DWritingBodyView
The Shadow of Afghanistan and Pakistan over Iran’s Uranium Enrichment
Iranian Diplomacy has interview Ali Bigdeli, foreign affairs’ analyst on the future of Iran’s nuclear program
United States will gradually recognize Iran as a nuclear state.
In a response to Obama’s remarks in Prague, Spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs called U.S. president’s non-reference to [demands for Iran for] halting uranium enrichment a ’good but insufficient’ act. Iranian Diplomacy has interview Ali Bigdeli, foreign affairs’ analyst on the future of Iran’s nuclear program:
What is the message that you infer from Obama’s non-reference to halting uranium enrichment?
I have always believed that United States should acknowledge a nuclear Iran. It seems that they are getting closer to that point. With IAEA’s reports on Iran’s nuclear activities, West has reached no doubtless conclusions which are against Iran’s nuclear program. And there is an international tendency towards recognizing Iran as a nuclear state.
Currently the United States faces two major problems: first, Afghanistan and Pakistan which call for Iran’s cooperation; and second, peace in Middle East. It seems that Iran’s nuclear issue is overshadowed by these two challenges.
Barack Obama has vowed to pursue the elimination of nuclear weapons. How would this influence the course of nuclear activities followed by different countries around the world?
That [elimination of nukes] is definitely impossible. That is a symbolic remark. And it is most likely said to discourage Iran and North Korea from pursuing their nuclear programs.
However, Iran is now a valuable potential and regional power for United States. Therefore, I think that uranium enrichment and pursuit of nuclear program will be overshadowed by the challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iran will be recognized as a nuclear state.
Obama has stated that as long as the threat from Iran persists, United States intends to go forward with the missile-defense system. Isn’t there contradiction between Obama’s pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons and installing the missile defense shield?
The U.S. president is engaged in interplay with two powers: Israel and Russia. Some remarks are made to ensure Israel that it won’t be ignored because of excessive attention towards problems with Afghanistan. Others are made due to concerns about Russia’s missile power.
However, there really isn’t a connection between the missile shield and Iran’s nuclear program and such remarks have short-term use. At the present, United States’ main concerns are the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the peace process in Middle East.
9 Thursday April 2009 20:27
Anti-Semitism is nothing but spin. It is there to silence criticism of Israel and Jewish lobbies around the world
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Aaronovitch_s_tantrum_and_the_demolition_of_Jewis.html
The new Israeli PM is a Holocaust minimizer. Apparently, he think the Holocaust and Nazi Germany were about nothing more than regional power struggles, since he keeps comparing Iran to Nazi Germany. No Netanyahu you Holocaust denying pig, the Holocaust was about the systematic destruction of an entire people, not about geopolitics.
Notice Arash the coward went back into his hole, unable to respond. Again.