Standoff Winnin' Mullahs
Well, considering the game of grabass that the EU3 have been playing for the last year, I'm going to have to tentatively agree.
It's worth pointing out that the Bush Administration has taken a hands off approach so far, allowing the European Union delegation to screw around with a diplomatic approach that is most likely doomed to failure. As a result, the tentative Iranian victory over the nuclear issue isn't over the U.S.; it's over the Europeans.
Be expending diplomatic capital over nothing, President Bush and his crew are preventing the rhetoric that followed the invasion of Iraq. The issue is high profile, and if force is required to stop the mullahs from developing nuclear technology, the Bush Administration can honestly and unequivocally point out that they allowed the European Union and the IAEA to attempt a diplomatic solution, and that such a solution ultimately failed.
I don't think that President Bush wants to use a military solution to Iran, but unlike European and U.N. leaders, he won't rule it out. He acknowledges, rightfully, that a nuclear Iran is not an acceptable outcome, and he refuses to take the military option off the table. This is precisely the right outlook on the situation, because once you start taking options off the table, your opponents know how far they can push you before you capitulate. The Iranians are playing the European Union like a cheap pawn shop guitar, and despite all of the asinine claims that President Bush is an Israeli pawn, or a chimp, or otherwise incapable, he's proving that he's smarter than his detractors in the European Union.
A top Iranian cleric said Friday that Iran was the winner in the stand-off over its nuclear ambitions, saying US "bullying" has failed to stop the Islamic republic.
"No matter how much they confront us, accuse us and put barriers on our way, it might only slow our movement, but they cannot stop us," Ayatollah Ahmad Janati said in a Friday prayer sermon.
"In this nuclear issue, we are the winner, not America. They must know this. Today, there is no grounds for the US bullying in the world, especially in Iran," he added, drawing the usual chants of "Death to America!".
It's worth pointing out that the Bush Administration has taken a hands off approach so far, allowing the European Union delegation to screw around with a diplomatic approach that is most likely doomed to failure. As a result, the tentative Iranian victory over the nuclear issue isn't over the U.S.; it's over the Europeans.
Be expending diplomatic capital over nothing, President Bush and his crew are preventing the rhetoric that followed the invasion of Iraq. The issue is high profile, and if force is required to stop the mullahs from developing nuclear technology, the Bush Administration can honestly and unequivocally point out that they allowed the European Union and the IAEA to attempt a diplomatic solution, and that such a solution ultimately failed.
I don't think that President Bush wants to use a military solution to Iran, but unlike European and U.N. leaders, he won't rule it out. He acknowledges, rightfully, that a nuclear Iran is not an acceptable outcome, and he refuses to take the military option off the table. This is precisely the right outlook on the situation, because once you start taking options off the table, your opponents know how far they can push you before you capitulate. The Iranians are playing the European Union like a cheap pawn shop guitar, and despite all of the asinine claims that President Bush is an Israeli pawn, or a chimp, or otherwise incapable, he's proving that he's smarter than his detractors in the European Union.
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