This must be what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton mean by “smart power.” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, not exactly known for his erudition or deep intellect, has managed to outmaneuver the US on uranium enrichment, reaching a deal with Brazil and Turkey to exchange raw nuclear fuel for processed fuel rods. That deal still allows Iran to enrich some of its own uranium, but even while the US objects, it allows political cover to Russia and China:
Iran backed the Obama administration into check in its ongoing nuclear chess match by announcing its own fuel swap deal after a Western-backed plan fell apart last fall.
The country, trying to avoid sanctions after it rejected a deal with the U.S., Russia, France and the International Atomic Energy Agency in October, steered around the United States in brokering a swap with Turkey and Brazil.
In a sense, Iran left the Obama administration an out by declaring it would continue producing 20 percent enrichment uranium even as it proposes shipping nuclear material to Turkey. To become official, the deal still has to be agreed to by the same group of nations that pursued the deal last fall — and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement that while the fuel swap would be a “positive step,” any move to continue enrichment internally would be a “direct violation” of Security Council resolutions.
Read More: BY ED MORRISSEY, Hot Air
Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nuclear manueveringIran will begin enriching uranium to 20 percent from Tuesday, the Islamic republic’s atomic chief announced on Sunday just hours after being told to do so by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mahmoud is not intimidated by Obama’s talk
The decision raises the stakes in a dispute with the West less than a week after Iran had appeared to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal on the supply of fuel for a research nuclear reactor in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad’s move drew fire from Britain and the United States, and analysts said it was a bid to exert pressure on Washington and drive a wedge between the six powers over attempts to impose new sanctions on Tehran.
"We will inform the IAEA in a letter tomorrow (Monday) of our intention to enrich uranium to 20 percent," Ali Akbar Salehi told the Arabic-language Al-Alam television, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The higher enrichment will begin at the Natanz plant from the day after tomorrow (Tuesday)," he added. Natanz is in the central province of Isfahan.
Read More: AP
Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Uranium
Obama’s approach has yielded no results
The Obama administration on Monday said Iran’s plan to build 10 more nuclear enrichment facilities and expand to a half-million centrifuges was "unacceptable" — but once again, in the face of yet another deadline, it offered no specific response beyond wait-and-see.
On at least four occasions this year, President Obama has set deadlines for Iran to comply with international demands that it demonstrate transparency and cooperation on nuclear developments.
But the Islamic Republic has blatantly ignored all deadlines set by Obama and the United Nations to freeze its uranium enrichment program, prompting critics to say that another "deadline" will have little, if any, impact.
Iran announced ambitious plans Sunday to construct another 10 nuclear facilities after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, called on it to halt work on a uranium enrichment plant.
Read More: FOX News
Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nuclear programIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the US to choose between Israel and Iran on Tuesday night, according to Iranian state media.
Speaking in Istanbul at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Iranian president said that it was up to US President Barack Obama to realize his motto of "change".
Will Obama side with the holocaust denier?
"The support of both Israel and Iran can’t go hand in hand," he was quoted as saying by IRNA. "No change is made unless great choices are made.
"We would welcome the changes, and wait for big and correct decisions to be made… We will clasp any hand that is extended sincerely toward us, but changes should be made in practice."
Read More: By Jerusalem Post
Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East
Iran’s state television reported Tehran was ready to engage in direct talks, only to retract the statement within hours in a move that appears to diminish the probability of any action before the White House’s September deadline.
If Iran does not accept by next month the Obama administration offer to engage in direct talks, the White House has threatened to seek increased U.N. economic sanctions.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Israeli President Shimon Peres disclosed that Israel has concrete proof Iran and Syria are delivering Russian-made weapons to terrorist organizations Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah Fighters are preparing for war
Reuters reported initially that Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, announced Tehran’s readiness "to take part in any negotiations with the West based on mutual respect."
Within hours, Reuters reported Soltanieh had denied making any such statement, saying instead "Iran’s main policies are not changed and that is to pursue its peaceful nuclear activities within the framework of the IAEA."
The incident made clear Iran has no intention of making any concessions on its nuclear program, even if it were to engage in direct talks.
Read More: By Jerome R. Corsi, WorldNetDaily
Tags: Barack Obama, Dialogues, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” – Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009
The left in this country spent the Bush years wringing their hands, frustrated over efforts at nation building in the Mideast. Newsweek’s attempt at rewriting history with claims of success in Iraq due to Obama’s policies won’t change the fact that the Bush administration’s “war of choice” was a success. An entire population of repressed people now lives in freedom due to United States Mideast policy under President Bush. And the Iranian people desire a similar fate if only the American President were to seize the opportunity and support the populace demanding that their voices be heard.
Unfortunately, President Obama has traveled the globe handing out carrots to each and every one of America’s enemies, leaders who also happen to be repressive dictators. Yet, no matter which tyrant Obama approaches with his open hand, he has, as my kids like to say, been “dissed.”
With each fist bump from Hugo Chavez, Team Medvedev/Putin, Kim Jong-Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one would expect that Obama would learn to close his open palm and offer up the tough policy that he promised would appear. Yet the only world leader who has seen Obama’s stick wielding, clenched fist is Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu.
Obama still wants to have dialogue with Iran
The Obama administration will leave open the door for discussions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions even as demonstrators question the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, administration officials said Sunday.
Ahmadinejad has accused the West of stoking unrest, singling out Britain and the United States for alleged meddling. Last week, Iran expelled two British diplomats, and Britain responded in kind. Iran has said it’s considering downgrading diplomatic ties with Britain.
The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Tehran since the aftermath of the Iranian revolution in 1979. On Saturday, Ahmadinejad said he would make the U.S. regret its criticism of the post-election crackdown and said the “mask has been removed” from Obama’s efforts to improve relations.
By Bruce Walker, American Thinker
Obama needs a new foreign policy strategy
President Obama seems to be grappling with an approach to safely resolve the grave international problems of Iran and of North Korea. He is floundering for the right tactics when what he needs is the right strategy. As my friend Herb Meyer, who worked closely with Reagan in winning the Cold War, reminds us, Reagan’s strategy was straightforward: ”How about this? We win. They lose.” Barry Goldwater put in much the same during the 1960s, when his Cold War strategy was summarized in his 1963 book title Why Not Victory?
Obama, like many Leftists, confuses national security tactics with national security strategy. Our strategy, after July 4, 1776, was to win independence. Members of the Continental Congress could visit with representatives of the Crown all they wished, but the strategy of the conflict – not the tactics – changed and decided the course of the war. Winston Churchill, in the darkest days of the Second World War, said that “Our policy is victory. Victory at all costs.”
Obama needs to learn a bit about statesmanship from Churchill, Washington, and Reagan. These men all had a defined goal and they each knew why reaching that goal was vital to mankind. When politicians lack a strategic plan, we end up with messes like Vietnam, Korea, or the Treaty of Versailles. Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon could never figure out whether they wanted to defeat North Vietnam – a relatively simple task which our four mothballed Iowa class battleships could having largely done alone – or to leave South Vietnam to the communists.
Wilson, the only president as naïve as our current president, promised the peoples of Europe sovereignty, and then allowed France and Britain to create precisely the sort of polyglot nations like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which made some sort of European war almost certain and a Carthaginian peace on Germany which made it very hard for noble Germans to win elections in Weimar Germany.
Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Kim Jong ill, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, North KoreaBy ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press
Iran tested its longest-range, solid-fuel missile yet Wednesday — a launch that displayed Tehran’s reach and burnished the president’s hardline reputation ahead of next month’s election.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed the test, which was announced by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The launch raised concerns about the sophistication of Tehran’s missile program and Pentagon officials cautioned that it leaves Iran at a crossroads.
“They can either continue on this path of continued destabilization in the region or they can decide that they want to pursue relationships with the countries in the region and the United States that are more normalized,” said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
Solid-propellent rockets are a concern because they can be fueled in advance and moved or hidden in silos, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss technical details of Iran’s missile program.
Tags: Iran Missile test, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle EastCBS News
Iranian TV wants Obama to appease, apologize for America
The U.N.-based Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the official news organization of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has told CBS News Tuesday that it has officially asked for an interview with President Barack Obama as a direct response to Mr. Obama’s call for opportunities to engage.
The Islamic News Agency’s U.N. representative, Khosro Shayesteh told CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk that they have requested the interview and are waiting for a response, saying that this would be a direct way for Mr. Obama to reach out to the Iranian people if he wants to begin a dialogue.
Tags: Iranian TV, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama
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