Methinks the Vice-President Doth Protest Too Much - On Iran
Normally, I try to blog only on political economy topics, but yesterday's comments by former Vice-President Cheney have really set me off:
"We fail to recognize the fact that we're alone out there in terms of trying to achieve the objective of forcing the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons. Everybody's in a giant conspiracy to achieve a different objective than the one we want to achieve."
What is wrong with this statement? Let me count the ways...
First, it implies that the Iranians already have nuclear weapons, since you can't "give up" something you don't have. But this claim is completely at odds with the published intelligence on the state of Iran's nuclear program.
Second, a minor point, but it is hard to believe the Israelis don't agree with us on this issue.
Third, and most important, there is an understandable reason that the Europeans (and others) don't share our obsession with the Iranian nuclear program. This is the fact that the Bush Administration, in effect, rewarded the Indian government for its own violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, when it reach a nuclear cooperation agreement with India. So who is Cheney to talk about non-proliferation?
"We fail to recognize the fact that we're alone out there in terms of trying to achieve the objective of forcing the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons. Everybody's in a giant conspiracy to achieve a different objective than the one we want to achieve."
What is wrong with this statement? Let me count the ways...
First, it implies that the Iranians already have nuclear weapons, since you can't "give up" something you don't have. But this claim is completely at odds with the published intelligence on the state of Iran's nuclear program.
Second, a minor point, but it is hard to believe the Israelis don't agree with us on this issue.
Third, and most important, there is an understandable reason that the Europeans (and others) don't share our obsession with the Iranian nuclear program. This is the fact that the Bush Administration, in effect, rewarded the Indian government for its own violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, when it reach a nuclear cooperation agreement with India. So who is Cheney to talk about non-proliferation?
