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Schröder and the Mullahs

 
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:05 am    Post subject: Schröder and the Mullahs Reply with quote

Schröder and the Mullahs

August 16, 2005
The Wall Street Journal
Review & Outlook

Source: http://online.wsj.com/


For those still praising the virtues of multilateralism -- code for outsourcing American foreign policy to the U.N. or any group that includes Paris and Berlin -- let's review the recent developments around Iran's quest for an atomic bomb and Germany's response.

For almost two years now, the U.S. has let France, Britain and Germany take the lead in the negotiations with Tehran, and the Europeans have been busy offering carrots in return for Iran's submission. The result: Last week, Tehran broke the U.N. seals to a uranium enrichment plant at Isfahan where it had promised to suspend operations.

And just in case anyone still has any illusions about Iran's true intentions or the value of Europe's diplomatic strategy, none other than Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hosein Musavian, admitted on Iranian state television earlier this month that the talks with the Europeans were from the beginning just a ruse.

The regime only agreed to the negotiations to buy enough time to complete the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Isfahan, Mr. Musavian explained. Without Europe's intervention, he said, the International Atomic Energy Agency would have long ago handed over Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

"But thanks to the negotiations with Europe we gained another year, in which we completed (the UCF) in Isfahan," Mr. Musavian said. "Today we are in a position of power ... We have a stockpile of products, and during this period, we have managed to convert 36 tons of yellow cake into gas and store it." These and other admissions have gone almost unnoticed in the Western media and it is only thanks to the Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memritv.org) that they have been translated into English.

And how does German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, one of the main architects of Europe's Iran policy, react to the mullahs' challenge? The same way he did the last time he was fighting an uphill re-election campaign in 2002. He once again turned to anti-Americanism.

Speaking to more than 10,000 people in his hometown of Hanover this weekend, Mr. Schröder acknowledged that Tehran poses a serious problem but added that those urging the regime to give up its nuclear ambitions would sound more convincing if they scaled back their own atomic arsenal as well. This obvious hint at U.S. nuclear arms was greeted with cheers from the audience. But the chancellor was only getting started.

Just the day before, President George W. Bush had reiterated that to stop the Iranian bomb "all options remain on the table," meaning that military force is still an option. Mr. Schröder had an immediate reply. "Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work," the chancellor said to applause.

Just as in the case of his categorical "No" to any military option against Iraq, Mr. Schröder's rejection of using force against Iran under any circumstances only makes it more likely that force will have to be used in the end. While there was never much chance that Europe's carrot-but-no-stick policy toward Iran would work, the only way it could realistically bring about the desired results is to back it up with a credible military threat. And this is exactly what Mr. Bush intended with his remarks.

Mr. Schröder has now undermined efforts to show a united Western front. If Iran has reason to believe that Washington might hesitate to use force for fear of an international backlash, it will no doubt embolden Tehran to resist any compromise. That Mr. Schröder is willing to endanger his own declared policy can only fuel suspicions that the negotiations were always more intended to tie the hands of the U.S. than to prevent Iran from going nuclear.

By insisting that one needs to find "peaceful solutions" to world conflicts Mr. Schröder implied that the U.S. prefers military conflicts over peaceful solutions. In the eyes of the German chancellor, the real danger is apparently not the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran but U.S. attempts to stop the mullahs from blackmailing the West with nuclear weapons.

In an interview a day later on Iran, Mr. Schröder added that "this is why I can with certainty exclude any participation by the German government under my direction." But as a military matter this is meaningless, since no one in Washington -- much less Tehran -- would expect German participation in a possible strike against Iran, if only because Germany lacks the military assets to do any good. Like most of the rest of Europe, Germany long ago outsourced its own defense to the U.S., even as it demands that Washington outsource the decision over the use of these defense forces back to Europe.

The opposition Christian Democrats, who are still leading in the polls, failed to challenge the chancellor. They criticized Mr. Schröder for using Iran as a campaign issue but also ruled out any "military option." A new government might perhaps change the style but not necessarily the substance of German foreign policy. That message will surely be heard in Tehran, making the mullahs all the more confident that they can become a nuclear power without any fear of European reprisal.
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Spenta



Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Posts: 1829

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The filthy Greedy Neo Coloniali$t EU Pig$ will continue to ki$$ Mullah a$$ even if they drop a nuclear bomb on the US killing million$!

There is no evil act the Mullah$ can commit that will not receive the embrace and ble$$ing$ of the filthy Greedy EU!

The Islmaic H.el.l. on Earth in Iran, is a result of the EU's Greedy, Filthy Neo Coloniali$t Policies!!! And it will not change until the Filthy Greedy Pig$ in Europe develop a concience (which seems unlikely) or till the Iranian people finally explode with rage!
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Oppenheimer



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
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Location: SantaFe, New Mexico

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Europeans call off key nuclear talks with Iran

By Paul Carrel
Reuters
Tuesday, August 23, 2005; 9:48 AM

PARIS (Reuters) - European powers have called off August 31 talks with Iran over its nuclear program, France said on Tuesday, marking a breakdown in two years of negotiations with Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said talks on a formal European proposal made earlier this month would not now go ahead because Iran had resumed certain nuclear work in breach of a promise to freeze it while talks lasted.


Britain, France and Germany, acting on behalf of the European Union, put the proposal to Iran in an effort to persuade it to give up nuclear activities the West suspects may be preliminary steps toward making atomic weapons.

"There will, in fact, be no negotiations meeting on August 31 since the Iranians have decided to suspend application of the Paris Agreement," Mattei told a regular news briefing.

"So by common accord between the three Europeans it is clear that there will be no negotiations meeting ... as long as the Iranians remain outside the Paris Agreement."

Under the Paris Agreement, agreed in November 2004, Iran voluntarily suspended all work related to atomic fuel production while negotiating a permanent deal with the EU.

Earlier this month the EU trio offered a package of economic, technical and political measures in exchange for a permanent suspension of Iranian efforts to make nuclear fuel.

Iran rejected the proposals, which also envisaged the August 31 talks, and angered the EU and the United States by resuming uranium conversion at its Isfahan plant on August 8.

Despite calling off the August 31 talks, the European powers remained in contact with Iran, Mattei said.

"That does not mean there will be no contact with the Iranians," he said. "We have contact with the Iranians. The three European countries have embassies there."

Iranian officials have said they will never suspend work at the Isfahan plant again and Tehran now wants to discuss resuming the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle -- uranium enrichment -- at its facility in Natanz.

The EU and the United States suspect Iran of secretly trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says it wants nuclear technology only to cope with booming electricity demand, not to make nuclear bombs.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, has called on Iran to halt sensitive atomic work. Its head Mohamed ElBaradei is due to report on Iran's activities on September 3.

If Iran continues to defy international pressure, Europe and the United States are likely to press the IAEA to refer Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

In Tehran on Tuesday about 300 Iranian students, carrying banners that read "End the fruitless talks," protested in front of the embassies of France, Germany and Britain.

"We will call on the Iranian negotiators to withdraw from the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and cut the nuclear negotiations," a speaker told the demonstrators, who chanted: "Death to the three evil regimes -- France, Germany and Britain."
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