« The Unbreakable Spirit of New Orleans Up Close | Home | How much will you hear about the Levees? »
The Road To Confrontation
From the people who brought you the Iraq war, here's...another coalition of the willing.
The L.A. Times reports that John Bolton is already trying to put together a group of countries who are prepared to enforce sanctions on Iran without U.N. Security Council approval. Other sources confirm that it was Bolton's idea to try to isolate Iran by going around the U.N. Bolton is single-handedly pushing the U.S. toward confrontation, and he's doing it in a way that will give Iran the upper hand in the international arena. Without the Security Council, it will be even harder to pressure Iran to make even the slightest concessions.
If we keep going down this path, we'll probably get a promise from Palau to cut off arms supplies, but that's not going to do the trick. It's time to do the hard work of consensus building that real diplomats know how to do.
Advertisement
I don't see why Iran should make any concessions.
Seriously.
What's in it for them? Saddam was making concessions right and left. He was disarmed. Look how he turned out.
When was the last time America was satisfied with any agreement? When was the last time America honoured a treaty long enough for the ink to dry? When was the last time America kept a promise?
Seriously.
America comes to Iran with serious credibility problems.
And worse than that, America comes to Iran without real support and without an army. It comes pursued by mounting disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. It comes with an economy on its last legs and a government of mad dogs whose malice is exceeded only by their incompetence.
So what's the point?
Seriously.
August 28, 2006 7:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
All indications are that this is a coordinated campaign from the White House and NOT just the efforts of revoltin' Bolton. There was an earlier report of pressure from the Pentagon (?) wanting the intelligence community to ramp up the reported danger that Iran represents; also reports that Bush pledged to Olmert that Iran's nuclear facilities will be levelled before he leaves office.
August 29, 2006 5:57 AM | Reply | Permalink