Iran's safe! Nothing to look at here.....

'They have WMDs!!!' Dick Cheney making up 'intelligence' to attract international sympathy.

He he... let'em sweat. The carrot has to be starting to look tastier than that nasty stick.

Does anyone remember those nuclear spies that were arrested in Iran last year? Hmmmm......


Iran Tests Nuclear Trigger Mechanism - Opposition
Thu Feb 3, 2005 11:27 AM ET

By Kerstin GehmlichPARIS (Reuters) - Iran has conducted successful experiments on a crucial triggering mechanism for a nuclear weapon, an exiled opposition group said on Thursday.

President Bush on Wednesday renewed his accusation that Iran was seeking to develop atomic weapons and called it the "world's primary state sponsor of terror."

Tehran dismisses the accusations and says its atomic ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which wants to oust Iran's clerical rulers and has given accurate information on its nuclear sites in the past, said Iran was close to producing the 'neutron initiators' that spark the chain reaction in a bomb.

"Tehran has already succeeded in using beryllium in conjunction with polonium-210 for large scale laboratory testing purposes, and it is getting very close to the point of industrial production," Mohammad Mohaddessin of the NCRI told a news conference in Paris.

Diplomats have already said there is evidence that Iran has bought small quantities of beryllium and tried to buy much more, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) is examining this as part of a two-year investigation of Tehran's nuclear program.

Beryllium also has many innocent uses, but Mohaddessin said Iran had not only secured significant quantities but also tried to conceal its purchases from the IAEA.

"Tehran currently has enough beryllium to produce initiators for a dozen nuclear bombs," he said.

He said the laboratory tests had been conducted at the Lavizan II site close to Tehran by experts from the Malek-Ashtar Industrial university, which is run by the Defense Ministry.

Germany, France and Britain, acting for the European Union, have been urging Iran to permanently scrap the uranium enrichment that could give it the potential to make nuclear explosives in return for political and economic incentives.

Washington takes a harder line and wants Iran to be reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

The NCRI is a coalition of exiled opposition groups. The State Department lists it and its armed wing, the People's Mujahideen, as terrorist organizations.

http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7529216

A bankrupt export of democracy

By Tony Karon



Those who fear that the second Bush term will bring a new crusade for democracy led by the Third Infantry Division are missing the bigger picture. Just as the soaring, unyieldingly principled visions of Natan Sharansky - its prime inspiration - don't ultimately determine the policy decisions of the government of which he forms a part, so will President Bush's lofty inaugural speech about "lighting the fires of liberty" have precious little bearing on the tough strategic choices that will confront his administration over the next four years.





Don't take my word for it; the president's father said pretty much the same thing straight afterward, advising journalists not to interpret the speech as reflecting any shift in U.S. foreign policy. It was just a speech about freedom, he said. Nor did it leave the designated tyrants such as Iran and North Korea, much less such useful autocrats as Musharraf and Mubarak, quivering in their boots. That's because Bush's Iraq policy has served as a demonstration less of American power, than of its limits and vulnerabilities. "You run this town because people think you run this town," goes an old gangster movie line. And Iraq has given both friend and foe cause to question whether the U.S. is quite the power that the rhetoric of its tough-talking sheriff of a president would suggest.

By cocking a snoot at the United Nations in order to go to war, the Bush administration did not bury the international body as some of its more rabid conservatives had hoped. Instead, it inadvertently signaled traditional allies that they can take the once-unthinkable step of saying no to Washington - and live with the consequences. The failure to find weapons of mass destruction and the raging insurgency have prompted many of the allies who had been cajoled into joining the "coalition of the willing," to simply go home.

It is not France, Germany and Russia who stand isolated on Iraq today. Spain led the way out of Iraq, but was quickly followed by a number of Latin American and Asian countries, and much of Donald Rumsfeld's "New Europe" has moved to do the same. Indeed, one of the first actions of the newly free government of Ukraine has been to order home the troops sent by the corrupt old guard to join the "coalition of the willing." And while Bush claimed the turnout in the Iraq election as Exhibit "A" in his case for global democratic activism, the Shi'ite coalition that looks to have won the lion's share of the votes had campaigned on a promise to "end the occupation."

Being the "leader of the free world" requires a following, but Bush today finds precious little support in the free world for his export of democracy.

So, as much as Bush wagged his fingers at the petty autocrats who serve Washington's purposes in various hot spots, he can't really do without a Musharraf or a Mubarak. And while Iran may be at the top of Bush's "regime-change" wish list, Tehran is well aware that the U.S. military is badly overstretched in Iraq - as is the record-breaking U.S. budget deficit, which grows by $4 billion each week that the troops stay in Iraq. The U.S. quite simply cannot afford another major war of choice right now, and occupying a country three times the size of Iraq may be beyond its capability until it reintroduces the draft. Britain has made a point of not only begging off an Iran adventure, but actively agitating against a military option for dealing with Tehran.

While Bush and Condoleeza Rice paint a picture of the Western world locked in a mortal struggle for survival against "Islamist totalitarianism" on a scale of the Cold War or World War II, to much of the rest of the world, they sound distracted by secondary issues. Nobody's making the problem of Islamist terrorism the organizing principle of their foreign policy, and rather than dividing into two camps, today's geopolitical map is showing a plethora of horizontal connections of growing economic, political and sometimes even military significance.

These connections are increasingly simply bypassing the United States. Bush's efforts to tee up Iran via the UN will come to naught not simply because of the Iraq debacle, but because China's burgeoning thirst for fossil fuels has prompted it to make a $30-billion investment in exploiting Iran's oil and natural gas reserves. And when China's central bank admonishes the U.S. over the slide of the dollar, its message resonates a lot more immediately with the concerns of many of America's traditional allies than does Bush's sermon on liberty.

Being the world's largest debtor nation, America's weakening currency may be a portent of serious troubles ahead. So, whatever Bush's revolutionary ambitions, he may well find himself grounded by an old Clintonian mantra: "It's the economy, stupid."

source

It's too bad, Mr Stillwater, that your silly, puerile, and utterly predictable Godwinizing tends to obscure the rare-but-insightful comments that you make, such as this one here. Well, I guess it shows that even a blind pig can occasionally find a truffle.

Godwinizing?! Need to look that up.

'rare-but-insightful'? Ouch, that hurts!


Fact: Two major wars (and two major invasions) in two years. And that doesn't sort of count as aggressive activity? Can't recall any other large Westernized nations throwing themselves into killing foreign nationals so enthusiastically in the last decade......

No need. Godwin's Law.


It's merely a self-inflicted flesh wound.


Had this thread been about Bush's aggressive tendencies, I suppose you might have a point here, but it wasn't and so you don't.

Your initial post, which highlighted the discrepencies between the diplomacy offered to Iran and the aggression directed at Iraq was pointed, direct, and accurate. Your descent into childish name-calling and Nazi analogies, however, effectively negated whatever point you were trying to make. You permitted those who might have agreed with your underlying message to dismiss you as just another bitter, demented, liberal crank. That's a shame, because you actually do have some good ideas.

Not biting Joe. Be back with breaking news....

U.S. Recalls Ambassador From Syria
_______________________________________________

CIA, FBI Warn Panel of Top Threats to U.S. - Including Iran

WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida and associated groups top the list of threats to the United States, leading government intelligence officials told Congress on Wednesday in a grim assessment that also highlighted Iran's emergence as a major threat to American interests in the Middle East.
_______________________________________________

Iran, Syria Team Up to Confront Threats

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran and Syria, who both are facing pressure from the United States, said Wednesday they will form a united front to confront possible threats against them, state-run television reported.

"In view of the special conditions faced by Syria, Iran will transfer its experience, especially concerning sanctions, to Syria," Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran's first vice president, was quoted as saying after meeting Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otari.


"At this sensitive point, the two countries require a united front due to numerous challenges."


The report did not specifically mention the challenges, but both countries are under U.S. economic sanctions and the targets of intense American pressure.


The United States has accused Iran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons, while relations with Syria have deteriorated, especially since Monday's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. ...
__________________________________________________

And I do believe we have somewhere around 120,000 troops smack in the middle of it all.

2005 Wednesday 16 March

A report from the celebration of the Festival of Fire from cities around Iran

According to received reports from various cities in Iran, today which marks the first celebration of the Iranian New Year's Festival of Fire was met with celebrations as well as huge protests and demonstrations against the Islamic regime of Iran. The protestors chanted: "We need no Sheikh or Mullah, we curse YOU - RUHOLLAH!"

A report from Tehran: Young celebrants today set scarecrows in the likeness of various Mullahs, such as Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Sharoudi, Jannati, etc. on fire in the streets. They cried out slogans such as: "Referendum, referendum, this is the people's dictum."

In various parts of the capitol, celebrations and parties rage on. As a part of this celebration which is held on the very last Tuesday night of the year, dry bundles of bramble and shrubbery are set on fire and people jump over them. This is in order to purge their spirits of all the sins and tribulations of the passing year, in order to start the new year, with a pure heart. This is an ancient Persian (Zoroastrian) tradition, one that the Mullahs have done their best to eradicate since their takeover in 1979.

An eyewitness reported that despite severe crackdowns by the Revolutionary Guards and storm troopers, people bravely came out of their homes to celebrate. The sound of bursting firecrackers (which is a part of the celebrations), fireworks, toy rockets, confetti and various other celebratory trajectiles can be heard all over Tehran and smoke has filled the streets.

In one of the grassy knolls, in a suburban area of Tehran, large bonfires were lit and people danced around it and continued chanting the various slogans in defiance of the Mullahs and their henchmen. It is reported that the local Mullahs in various areas of several areas have locked themselves in their mosques fearing the crowds who continually and collectively shout out their slogans.

In several other parts of Tehran, revolutionary guards who have blocked off roads in order to stop cars carrying passengers of various groups from joining others. However people have begun parking their cars and have joined their fellow celebrants on foot. The guards however have become frightened by the force of the people. In this specific area several non-Iranian journalists were also present with their film crews, reporting.

In another area of the city people took to setting the French flag on fire while chanting: "Europe is finished and so are their Mullahs." OR "Bush, Bush, where is Bush?" (In Persian this rhymes: Bush, Bush, kush, kush!).

Like last year's celebration, the brave women who also participating in the celebrations removed their headscarves, stomping and dancing.

In the town of Karaj, near Tehran, people chanted: "Death to Khamenei" as the brutal revolutionary forces took chains and batons to people, severly beating and injuring many.

In the Southern city of Ahvaaz, on the Iran/Iraq border and the surrounding townships celebrants also came out in droves, confronting the regime's thugs. In the Shi'ite holy city of Mash'had, the city closest to the border of Afghanistan, where anti-regime and anti-Mullah fervour has always been most impressive, large groups of celebrants were arrested and detained.


http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/003897.html