Iran suddenly stops enrichment....

[eek.]

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This is weird chit.
The Iranians were resigned to a full blown program with no other prospects a month ago.
I smell the garlic fingers of a French deal, backed up with a French UN security council veto.


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Verdict due on Iran nuclear plans

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The US has alleged that Iran wants to build nuclear weapons

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->The UN nuclear watchdog is preparing to issue a report on investigations into Iran's nuclear activities.

The report will include an agreement Iran reached with EU states last week to halt uranium enrichment plans.

Iran is facing a 25 November deadline to comply with an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution ordering the suspension.

The agreement to halt enrichment is expected to ward off the threat of UN sanctions, correspondents say.

The IAEA report will cover two decades of what the US views as clandestine nuclear activities aimed at developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons.

Sanction threat easing

IAEA board members from 35 countries will review the report on 25 November before deciding if Iran is in breach of a resolution, passed in September, calling for the suspension of uranium enrichment and related activities.

The US has pushed for the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, says if the European enrichment freeze can be verified over the next few days, the US is unlikely to have enough support to send Iran to the Security Council.

The EU has offered to Iran increased co-operation on trade and energy in exchange for the freeze.

Successful uranium enrichment could be seen as a key stage in the development of weapons-grade nuclear material.

Agreement 'temporary'

On Sunday chief Iranian negotiator Hassan Rohani said the suspension would be in force until a final settlement is reached.

Speaking in Tehran, Mr Rohani said Iran would suspend "almost all" its enrichment activities until a long-term agreement on Iran's nuclear programme is reached.

Talks will begin next month, he added.

Another senior negotiator, Hossain Mousavian, told Iranian state television the agreement was a "confidence-building" move and not a legal obligation.

He stressed that the suspension was temporary, the Associated Press news agency reported. A deal reached last year between the EU and Iran on a uranium-enrichment freeze later unravelled. Iran has said it has a legal right to nuclear energy - and in particular to securing their own source of fuel for power stations, rather than being dependent on outsiders.

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[eek.]

The French were going to veto a US backed invasion UN resolution thingy for Iraq too.

Which is why the US did its unilateral invasion of Iraq.

interesting times ahead...

 

[docmercer--banned]

eek:

More to it than that ...

the EU's High Representative Javier Solana is telling people the EU's agreement with Iran is "only the start" Start of what?



Solana has been meeting with the Iranian officials for a long time. What could Solana give Iran in return for her nuclear bomb? .... the only thing big enough Solana could give is his promise Israel would be giving up her bombs soon too. After all, Israel is the reason Iran wanted the bomb in the first place



Look for the EU to try and force Israel to give up her nukes in return for a historic peace agreement .. you are watching Sharon pullback as we speak and Bush in heat to give the Palestinians a state right next door to Israel



Watch out come 2005 .. some things are gonna happen that fit in line with man's march toward destiny

 

[eek.]

Doc.

Europe has absolutely zip influence over Israel.
They don't even like each other, never mind trust each other.

Only the billions of US welfare handouts have any leverage, and the US is going to do nothing to change or risk that relationship.

edit.
As far as the Euro dudes are concerned, Israel is the new South Africa.
(before Mandela.)

 

[docmercer--banned]

eek:

You watch ....

Israel is begging for peace and has been open in talks recently about becoming part of the EU ...

Solana is the guy who somehow talked Russia into going along with NATO's eastward expansion -- changing the face of Europe. He's the guy who maneuvered through the EU power wars and ended up on top -- without making enemies

Israel is desperate for Peace

 

[eek.]

Everyone here thinks that Israel is an integral part of Shrubs middle east inititiative,
(The final solution of the towelhead problem)
and Israel will get the kit to back it up, like those bunker busters.

France meanwhile, is fighting this stuff tooth and nail, while Britain flip flops and wonders WTF to do.

 

[docmercer--banned]

all I know is 2005 has some potential for "entertainment" from the sands of the Mideast ...

 

[eek.]

As a starterpack, Israel must build its wall inside Israel proper, and its Soweto township photocopy, the Gaza strip, must be given autonomy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3917155.stm

The wall is a barrier to credibility in international diplomatic circles.
No-one disputes Israels security problems, but as far as europe is concerned, if you want to be a credible part of western civilisation, drop the bull and build your wall in the right place.
And forget about West Bank expansion. That's not an option.

If Israel embraces its responsibilities, then Europe would have no problem supporting the place.

It won't happen anytime soon, the last time an Israeli leader got close to a deal the Israelis put a bullet in him.
When was the last time the politicals put a bullet in your leader?

The whackos are calling the shots, like in Gaza.
(would be happy to be proved wrong here BTW)

 

[TomKing]

After Iraq wonder how much **** we would get in if we accidently dropped one of those bunker busters on the $hithole E Tower in Paris?

 

[docmercer--banned]

eek:

I will throw up if I hear the EU community hammering Israel on that wall again ....

EU countries are not the only ones to display hypocrisy. Several states voting to condemn Israel themselves have built barriers on disputed land, often as a response to terrorism. Israel's decisions rest on firm precedent. India, for example, has built a barrier along its line-of-control with Pakistan. Following a number of violent confrontations with Yemeni soldiers and tribesmen, the Saudi Arabian government unilaterally began constructing a barrier on land disputed by its southern neighbor. Morocco has built a barrier against Algerian infiltration in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Ironically, while both British foreign minister Jack Straw and Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül condemned Israel's security fence, both their countries have built their own barriers to combat terrorism. In Cyprus, it is the U.N. itself that, at significant hardship to the local populace, sponsored a security fence reinforcing the island's de facto partition.

A case in point is the separation barrier between India and Pakistan. Upon their independence in 1947, a massive exchange of populations took place. Millions of Muslims streamed from India into Pakistan while millions of Hindus fled in the opposite direction. The two countries fiercely disputed possession of the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir, fighting three wars in subsequent decades. In 1989, the Indian government, frustrated at the continued infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan, constructed a security barrier along the frontier in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan. The barrier worked and infiltration subsided. Five years later, India sought to extend the barrier 620 miles through Jammu and Kashmir. More than 80 percent of the barrier's planned route was on disputed land.

And there is little doubt that the security barriers work. Suicide attacks in Israel declined 75 percent in the first six months of 2004 compared to an equivalent period in 2003. The Israeli government is not alone in this conclusion. Many of the most vocal critics of Israel's security barrier have employed the same defense. Their immunity from ICJ and U.N. criticism illustrates both the politicization of the International Court of Justice and the inherent bias of the United Nations. U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan's criticism of Israel's security barrier, especially when juxtaposed with his silence regarding the region's other security barriers, illustrates the double standard.

 

[PatPatriot]

They must have watched the vote count come in .in Ohio.

 

[xpanda]

I'm wondering if Russia has anything to do with this Iran business? Russia needs desperately to keep Iran out of US hands, or be virtually landlocked by the US and her allies. A headline today reads: Russia to Build Nuclear Weapons the US Won't Have. Additionally, last week I was reading an op-ed (forget where) that wondered aloud if a Russia/China/Iran/India coalition might be in the works.

With a twist of French, ain't geopolitics fun??

 

[docmercer--banned]

Xpanda:

Russia has over 40 billion invested in the Iranian nuke reactor projects ... plus, I believe in 91 they signed a defv agreement with Iran regarding attacks from the West

 

[PatPatriot]

I'm wondering if Russia has anything to do with this Iran business? Russia needs desperately to keep Iran out of US hands, or be virtually landlocked by the US and her allies. A headline today reads: Russia to Build Nuclear Weapons the US Won't Have. Additionally, last week I was reading an op-ed (forget where) that wondered aloud if a Russia/China/Iran/India coalition might be in the works.

With a twist of French, ain't geopolitics fun??
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Yup,sounds like the global powers that be are having their chess match,and people like us are just the pawns,or just the flotsam and jetsum...sigh.

10 years from now we will be bitching about what country supported who and when and why,finally realizing that the powers that be support and are loyal to no one,even their own.....I think its time for a pitcher of marguritas and some marlin fishing off the coast of Costa Rica.