Iran faces—gasp—more sanctions
From The Patriot Post, 08 August, 2008
Albert Einstein is famously said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. He might have had a few choice words to say about the approach that the international community has chosen for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. Last month the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1) offered Iran the latest in a long series of incentive packages, aimed at convincing the country to halt uranium enrichment and come clean about its nuclear program. Iran offered the same obfuscation it has given many times before, claiming it was willing to discuss further negotiations after the P5+1 clarified its response to Iran’s questions—whatever that means.
The Bush administration subsequently declared that the P5+1 were going to begin discussing a new round of sanctions to add to the four currently in place on Iran’s nuclear program (1696, 1737, 1747 and 1803). But then the Russians announced that, no, the P5+1 had not agreed that more sanctions were needed, only that more diplomacy was in order. The Iranians must be laughing all the way to the bank. We have said it over and over again: Iran has no intention of stopping its pursuit of nuclear weapons, no matter how many UN sanctions are levied against it. Iran’s strategy since August 2003 has been to give the minimum acceptable appearance of cooperation and reasonableness, while dragging its feet at every opportunity. To their credit, the mullahs have executed this strategy brilliantly, making textbook use of the advantages to be had when a single rogue state negotiates with a group that must all agree before they can act.
Next week will mark five full years since Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program came to light, and what has changed in that time? Iran has demonstrated the ability to enrich uranium; it has installed and tested 3,000 centrifuges while announcing its intent to install 2,000 more; it has advanced the construction of its heavy water plant at Khondab; it has tested missiles with sufficient range to hit Israel; it has taken delivery of advanced Russian SA-15b anti-aircraft missiles; it has probably purchased even more advanced Russian SA-20 missiles; and it has not deviated an inch from its basic position of never yielding their “right” to a full nuclear program. Meanwhile, the UN does the only thing it knows how to do: dole out more sanctions—and hope for a different result.
Soap Box Ravings feels that it is only a matter of time before someone takes out the nuclear facilities located in Iran. God help us if we do not have a capable President when that hits the fan.
The Iranians and the Muslim world will be in no mood to discuss what happened. They will strike back, not only at the country that dropped the bomb, but all of the countries perceived (read any non-Muslim country)by Iran and her supporters to have supported the bombing of the Iranian nuclear facility.
What effect do you think that will have on oil prices. How much oil comes through the Straits of Hormuz which can easily be controlled by Iran.
What happens if suicidal Iranians or other Muslim freedom fighters put missiles onto merchant ships and launch them into American cities along the coastline. Their are a lot of population areas located within range of the missiles the Iranians recently demonstrated. They may not have the accuracy of our intercontinental missiles, but even a Scud missile could hit New York City from 10 miles away.
Suppose they use merchant ships as bombs or rams to destroy at sea oil rigs. How long does it take to rebuild or repair one of those rigs?
