Iran: Saying 'No' is Not an Offer

The US seems to have changed tactics. Today it anounced that Teheran has the right for peaceful nuclear energy. This was done despite the fact that Teheran has done nothing to show any intention of moderation. That fact suggests that Teheran is out of time, because it means that the US, Russia and China have indeed reached an agreement that would allow the US to get off the high horse while still maintaining its credibility, i.e. sanctions, if the talks fail.

Teheran's response? an unequivocal 'No'. After the usual 'it's a trick' courtesy, Iran's President Ahmadinegad did not indicate he is going to tone down his anti-Israel and anti-West rhetoric, reassuring the west about the peaceful intentions. Instead he said that Iran will not give up enrichment since it is against its interests (which does not help alleviate concerns about nuclear weapons). But the Iranian president does not understand that just saying 'No' is not enough!

He is not willing to give up enrichment? fine, but he has to offer something that would alleviate the concerns or the West led by the US, will charge in and alleviate those ocncerns as it did in Iraq! What could such a thing be? It is hard to say, but for sure a trade off, a positive correlation if you will, must exist between Iran enriching Uranium and the IAEA supervising it: as the former goes up, the latter goes up even more.

Tags:
Middle East, Iran, US, IAEA, Nuclear, Russia, China, Politics.

Oh, the irony

Yesterday I had the usual conversation about democracy in the Middle East. As usual the peace activists spoke about peace and liberties and brought the usual argument: "We should not impose our way of democracy on the Middle East", and then it hit me: those peace activists were using the same words tyrants in the Middle East have been using for years!!!, although with slight modifications: the tyrants replaced the words "we" with "you" and "our" with "yours". So while peace activists were saying "we should not...etc.", tyrants in the Middle East 'justified' them saying "you should not impose your way of democracy on the Middle East" while continuing to suprass the liberties of people. And so it happens that the irony is that those peace activists fighting for peace and freedom for all, were actually echoing the words and arguments of those who suprass the very same liberties they call for in the Middle East. Just another food for thought as the debate on the validity or futility of democracy in the Middle East rages on.

Tags:
Peace, Middle East, Democracy, Anti-war.