Iran Resumes Uranium Conversion Efforts - 20 minutes ago

[GePap]

UN sanctions aren't going to happen, not ones that matter- China especially won;t approve anything harsh, given their increasing investments in Iran and their need for oil. Russia would most likely also oppose any serious sanctions.

Maybe the EU can push its own sanctions, but that won't stop the Iranians from enriching Uranium.

Maybe the hawks in the Bush admin. are stupid enough to push for airstrikes, but they won;t stop Iran, and Iran can make our lives in Iraq MUCH MUCH worse if they really want to.

At the end thought the US and the Europeans have little ground to stand on- if they think the Iranians have been violating the IAEA regulations, they should have gone to the Sec Council long ago (to have nothing happen), but the fact is Iran has every legal right to enrich uranium for a local peaceful nuclear program. And who gave them this right? The nuclear powers as part of their failed attempt to monopolize nuclear weapons.

In the end, if the people who have nukes now are unwilling to give them up, then its beyond stupi to expect other states not to try or succeed in getting their hands on them, not as long as the notion of state sovereignty remains.

[Ecthy]

I'm serious. There can be no invasion. We need to stop that action. Israel or the US have to do it.

[Ramo]

Maybe the hawks in the Bush admin. are stupid enough to push for airstrikes, but they won;t stop Iran, and Iran can make our lives in Iraq MUCH MUCH worse if they really want to.

Yep, the Iranians are being relatively cooperative on Iraq. They could really **** us up, if they so choose. And the Iranians themselves would probably be a pretty minor problem, compared to the upheaval such acts would cause among actual (Shia) Iraqis (or among their pro-Iranian gov't, for that matter). All in all, a retarded policy, which is why I wouldn't count it out by this gov't. Indeed, there was a Sy Hersh article a while back suggesting that such a thing may very well happen.

[snoopy369]

The U.S. isn't going to invade Iran any time soon. They have a popularly supported, somewhat democratic government - meaning we can't throw in the "ooh, evil dictator" bit - and I'm guessing they'd do a good bit more damage to our armed forces than even guerilla-iraqis can. We COULD win, but it would ... hurt ... a lot. We'd see a draft for sure, and whichever president started it would certainly lose his party's chance at the race the next time around...

The real question is, will Russia and China support the sanctions ... and will they figure out how to devise sanctions that will actually *work* ? (Or can sanctions actually work ... I'd vote "no", personally, but certainly some major players think so ...)

Or perhaps couldn't we just support the opposition party in Iran (the non-theocracy one, I forget the name...) and perhaps achieve a peaceful transition

[lightblue]

I think the more likely action would be an Israeli strike on the nuclear facility with tacit, non-explicit consent of the US. Israel are one of the main potential losers if an Islamic state acquires nuclear weapons, and they have demonstrated the willingness to perform strikes on foreign soil before.

[lord of the mark]

does Iran currently even have any nuclear powered electric generating facilities for which they require fuel? Or are they just being forward thinking?

And havent the EU3 offered them secure arrangements for getting fuel? Which they have rejected? Makes it pretty clear that they are seeking weapons, which does violate the NPT. As the EU3 seems ready to conclude.

If the EU3 doesnt go to the UNSC for sanctions, their actions over the past couple of years look pretty foolish. If they DO go to the UNSC, it will be upto the Russians to decide to veto or not. If the Russians DO veto, that will NOT help the French-German-Russian "entente" OTOH if the Russians DONT veto, then its up to China, and they have been pretty reluctant in the past to cast their veto alone.

[GePap]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
does Iran currently even have any nuclear powered electric generating facilities for which they require fuel? Or are they just being forward thinking?

A nuclear reactor is being built,, so yes, they will have uses for the fuel-but this is not even making fuel, this is creting the gas, that THEN is put through centerfuges to get enriched uranium.

And havent the EU3 offered them secure arrangements for getting fuel? Which they have rejected? Makes it pretty clear that they are seeking weapons, which does violate the NPT. As the EU3 seems ready to conclude.

If the EU3 doesnt go to the UNSC for sanctions, their actions over the past couple of years look pretty foolish. If they DO go to the UNSC, it will be upto the Russians to decide to veto or not. If the Russians DO veto, that will NOT help the French-German-Russian "entente" OTOH if the Russians DONT veto, then its up to China, and they have been pretty reluctant in the past to cast their veto alone.

The Europeans wanted them to abandon their own enrichment program- why should any soverign state do so? Hey, it wasn;t the Iranians that first made the ME a non-nuclear free zone.

And why the hell would the Russians back the EU-US plans? They are the ones helping Iran with its reactor, and the US has been on thier case lately-not like they care if Iran really goes nuclear.

In the end though Iran has every right to refine all the damn uranium they want. They obviously have broken IAEA regulations in the past-so let them be taken to the UN council over that- but its the nuclear powers that set up the NPT cartel- too bad its falling apart on them.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by GePap
In the end though Iran has every right to refine all the damn uranium they want. They obviously have broken IAEA regulations in the past-so let them be taken to the UN council over that- but its the nuclear powers that set up the NPT cartel- too bad its falling apart on them.

Yes. Let's hope that harsh language will convince people to leave nuclear weapons alone.

Let's jeer from the side-lines as every nut with a tent sporting a flag on the back of a camel has nukes.

Clear thinking there, if it weren't for the 'they have the right to... but they broke the rules... so what, they deserve to get away with it...' rhetoric.

[Flip McWho]

How come Iran aren't allowed to do their business and get nuclear power?

What happened to innocent till proven guilty?

[dannubis]

dunno

the do support the palestian terrorist resistance.

not that they will give away their hard earned nukes, but it would upset the balance in the ME.

and while i do not support israeli actions, i would rather have a secular state dominating the region than a theocratic one. in the name of god, the most stupid and horrible things have been done in the past.

[child of Thor]

Re: Iran Resumes Uranium Conversion Efforts - 20 minutes ago

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I know, I know. You don't want to know.
Like that ostrich approach, head buried in sand.
If nothing else, this gives you time to whine in advance about Bush and Blair, because Iran is about to get their sh1t kicked.
Might ought to pay attention. This isn't just going to go away, and it will affect all.
Try being something besides reactionary for a change.

Maybe if the Ayatollah were gay; or was trying to decide what kind of beans he preferred, it would get your attention and concern.

edit.....

What goes around, comes around - a wise philosophy many dont pay attention to.
The question is why are you so afraid of this news? .......maybe because what goes around can come around?

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Flip McWho
How come Iran aren't allowed to do their business and get nuclear power?

What happened to innocent till proven guilty?

Um. Sponsoring terrorism in Lebanon and Europe is a bad mark against them.

Oh, and they're Moo Slims and have oil, too.

[Japher]

Iran has secretly manufactured around 4,000 centrifuges capable of weapons grade uranium enrichment - 25 times the quantity it has admitted to the UN, it was claimed today.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, an exiled Iranian dissident who in 2002 helped to uncover almost two decades of covert Iranian nuclear activity, said the centrifuges - rotating machines used in separation processes - were ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.

Mr Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based thinktank focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information - which he described as "very recent" - had come from sources within the Tehran regime that had proved to be accurate in the past.

LINK

This sounds like some of the losely knit inside information that we normally go to war with.

[mrmitchell]

because Iran is about to get their sh1t kicked.

by who???

[Tattila the Hun]

Ninjas!!!


Anyways, in other news...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/08/bush.ap/index.html

"The measure funnels billions of dollars to energy companies, including tax breaks and loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and wind energy."

Also in the news:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/08/09/chavez.invasion.ap/index.html

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told thousands of visiting students that if U.S. forces were to invade the South American country, they would be soundly defeated."

Connection?