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| Should the US invade Iran. |
| Yes. Because they have on WMD. |
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42% |
[ 3 ] |
| Yes. Because they are a repressive muslim society. |
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14% |
[ 1 ] |
| Yes. Because they support terrorists and helped blow up the WTC. |
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14% |
[ 1 ] |
| Yes. Because they will set us up the bomb! |
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28% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 7 |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Iran: Ready For Pacts With Neighbors
April 11, 2006 14 49 GMT
Iran is ready to sign nonaggression pacts with countries in the region, Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said April 11. Najjar added that Iran's March 31-April 6 military exercises along its southern coast were "a message of peace and friendship" to neighboring countries and were welcomed by Muslims of the world. Iran is also ready to hold joint military exercises with other countries in the region, Najjar said.
More to come... |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:18 am Post subject: |
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Iraq: Arab Concerns Over the U.S.-Iranian Talks
April 10, 2006 21 45 GMT
Summary
The Saudi leadership should act to prevent Iran from "exporting the revolution" to Iraq, said a report by a security adviser to the Saudi government made public April 10. By publicly expressing their fears over the U.S.-Iranian dialogue on Iraq and an imminent U.S. troop drawdown in the region, the Middle East's major Arab players -- Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- are signaling Washington that they, too, deserve seats at the negotiating table. The United States could certainly benefit from bringing Cairo and Riyadh on board as it cautiously engages Tehran, but U.S. negotiators would risk being stretched too thin across the Persian-Arab divide as they attempt to balance a complex array of interests.
Analysis
U.S. and Iranian officials' decision to bring their negotiations over Iraq into the public sphere sent a current of fear through the Arab world. In light of U.S. President George W. Bush's rapidly weakening presidency and the inevitable drawdown of U.S. troops in the region, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are struggling to come to terms with the idea of Washington and Tehran reaching a settlement on Iraq and leaving the Arab world to fend for itself against a resurgent Iran... |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:33 am Post subject: |
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(CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed Tuesday that his country has successfully produced low-grade enriched uranium at a level sufficient to power nuclear plants.
"I officially announce that Iran has joined countries with nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad said.
He stressed that Iran's nuclear efforts were for peaceful efforts and that no country should stand in its way.
"Our nation is a peaceful nation," Ahmadinejad said.
The enrichment took place Sunday, the president said, adding that "our nuclear activities have been under complete supervision, unprecedented supervisions" by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"And today we are interested in operating under IAEA supervision," he said.
IAEA inspectors are at a facility in Natanz, but it is unclear whether they witnessed the enrichment process. (Uranium enrichment explainer)
Earlier Tuesday, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's atomic energy agency, said that the Natanz facility had enriched uranium at 3.5 percent -- a low-grade level sufficient to run a power plant but not pure enough for weapons.
The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran cease its enrichment activities, but Tehran says that the country has a right to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes... |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/04/11/iran.nuclear/index.html
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:46 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
The alllegedly proposed nonaggression pacts might be part of a larger, distraction-style diplomacy. Talk about peace while developing nuclear power -- that is, while defying the UN.
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Stratfor would say that you have it backwards.
I certainly wouldn't know whether they are more correct than Hersch, but what they say has to date made a lot of sense.
Check out the April 10 podcast- you won't be disappointed. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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Iran also seems to be aiming to do what India and Pakistan both did: develop nukes and present them via fait accompli diplomacy. Look what Tehran announced today, for example.
Last edited by Gopher on Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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Check your PM inbox.
| Gopher wrote: |
Iran also seems to be aiming to do what India and Pakistan both did: develop nukes and present them via fait accompli diplomacy.
Look what Tehran announced today, for example. |
Israel, India, and Pakistan developed nuclear weapons in total secrecy. The fait accompli was the nuclear test (in India and Pakistan's case- Israel hasn't tested, I believe). What the Iranians are doing is screaming "I'm gonna build a nuke! I'm gonna build a nuke!" Not the best way to acheive this, but certainly the best way to get attention and have people sit up and take notice of you.
They did the same thing last week- they announced practically a new super-weapon each day of their exercises in the gulf. "We're gonna close the Strait of Hormuz! We're gonna close the straight of Hormuz!"
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| And I think the best thing we can say about where things are going in the Middle East right now is that when they start using their nukes against each other, at least we probaby will not get the brunt of the fallout in our hemisphere. |
We know the US and Iran don't exist in a vaccuum, and that there are other regional powers with interests in how Iran and the US resolve this, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel to name just a few. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee.
Then I read America's Secret War from the local library.
YOU CAN ORDER IT FROM WHAT THE BOOK
It's not without its flaws, but I can promise you that it's an analysis of the last 5 years not quite like anything else you've read elsewhere, and a real eye opener. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| Stand by. I'm still working on Cobra II. I'll summarize it for you and BB as soon as I'm done. |
Of all the participants on this board, your words are intended for only two? Wouldn't e-mail be much simpler?
Personally, Bulsajo, I'd appreciate an overview.
BTW, I think the rest of us would appreciate the other.... that is, stratfor... links, as well. Despite gopher's histrionics, most of us really do want to understand the totality of things. (The real differences with info usually lies in the analysis rather than the info itself (at least when the research is objective), thus the divergence of opninions even among people of an otherwise similar political orientation...)
Ah... what the hell am I blabbing about? I'm a lunatic!! |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
| Stand by. I'm still working on Cobra II. I'll summarize it for you and BB as soon as I'm done. |
Of all the participants on this board, your words are intended for only two? Wouldn't e-mail be much simpler? |
Did that, we took it to PM.
| Quote: |
| Personally, Bulsajo, I'd appreciate an overview. |
Overview of what, exactly?
The entire state of the middle east and south asia?
Sorry I don't have time nor inclination to write something that long.
But you can find it at Strafor, registration is free.
Because it is a sight where you will find analysis nowhere else on the topics at hand, I thought it was worth a mention here.
But because it is not a news site but provides a service to subscribers, I am extremely reluctant to post anything in its entirety.
Anyone can also get their daily podcasts for free, but there are no transcripts (that I am aware of) anywhere, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to transcribe them here.
www.stratfor.org
Thanks again to Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee for turning me on to such an invaluable and unique primary source of foreign policy analyses.
How accurate they really are still remains to be seen but their perspective, their forté, is to be able to put seemingly disparate events into a coherent pattern.
I've read Hersch's Chain of Command and the New Yorker article Kuros posted and found them to be important and insightful, and would strongly recommend reading them as well as the information found on the Stratfor site.
To be honest I'm tired of getting down in the weeds here in this forum, arguing tiny details with people (many of whom are uninformed ideologues who shape events to their politics rather than vice versa). I think you'll see me posting a lot less here.
I know this will be a great day for those who find my posts here tiresome, and/or my style annoying. |
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Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:09 am Post subject: ... |
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Regarding stratfor:
Stratfor is essentially a "think tank". It's not listed as such because it's commercial.
It does its best to make objective statements and provide fair commentary, as do other "think tanks" like the Brookings Institute or the Cato Institute, among a great moany others.
However, that doesn't make Stratfor some infallibly fair source.
They provide exceptional intelligence, which they get by and large from former members of the intelligence community now in their employ. In this sense (as a privately owned intelligence community), they are an interesting phenomenon.
That is how I regard their data/resources. In terms of their analysis, they are unabashadly pro-military. Their language betrays themself when they label people "enemies" of Bush in justifying the Iraq War. This is one example.
Not to say that they aren't intelligent in expressing their opinion. They state that Stratfor's "view" is such and such. Hence, they are offering an opinion.
It translates badly into the ESLcafe forum when someone goes on to say, "This is the REAL reason we went to war."
Stating opinions as facts is a disservice to all participants in this forum.
And the same goes for objectivity. I hope that it is something we all strive for, but no book you've read or source you read grants you such the title of 'objective'.
That applies to Stratfor. It's a nice resource. It's not the bottom-line on anything. It does not have the market cornered on objectivity.
It is biased. I don't know of any source that isn't.
I admit. I am biased.
The problem I have is with some wanker trumping his opinions because he "isn't biased".
That is fundamentally flawed. |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:27 am Post subject: |
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No to the issue of invading Iran at this time.
Yes, to ending weapons of mass destruction where ever they are located.
Both are changeble points. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:40 am Post subject: |
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| The problem I have is with some *beep* trumping his opinions because he "isn't biased". |
He's trumping his opinions because he agrees with them. But, I'd argue that Friedman is pretty disinterested as far as politics or part goes. Have you read some of his analysis? |
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