« Playing Politics | Main | No More Realism »
January 20, 2007
Good News from Iran
This can only be good news
Conservatives and reformists are openly challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hard-line nuclear diplomacy -- an unusual agreement across Iran's political spectrum -- with many saying his provocative remarks have increasingly isolated their country. ...After a year of silence, reformists are demanding that Iran dispel fears that it is seeking to build atomic weapons, pressing for a return to the enrichment suspension policy under President Mohammed Khatami. Uranium enrichment can produce the material for either nuclear reactors or bombs.
"Resisting the U.N. Security Council resolution will put us in a more isolated position," said the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest reformist party.
Mr. Ahmadinejad's popularity already was weakened after his close conservative allies were defeated last month in local elections, which were widely seen as a referendum on his 18 months in power.
Even some conservatives warn that his confrontational tactics are backfiring.
"Your language is so offensive ... that it shows that the nuclear issue is being dealt with a sort of stubbornness," the hard-line daily Jomhuri-e-Eslami said in an editorial.
Some lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum are considering impeaching Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki if the Security Council approves more resolutions against Iran.
No I do not think that this is all an elaborate ruse. It is not some sort of situation like Stalin's famous "show trials". I think that Ahmadinejad is genuinely losing popularity. The question is, does this mean that Iran is giviing up their pursuit of nuclear weapons?
The answer, I think, is "not necessarily". Better, "we shouldn't count on it".
It rather seems to me that they just see Ahmadinejad's rhetoric as counter-productive. The details of their nuclear program are no doubt a closely held secret, and it is doubtful that even many mullahs the Assembly of Experts or Council of Guardians know what is really going on. So when we read that "reformists are demanding that Iran dispel fears that it is seeking to build atomic weapons", that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't developing them.
After all, how many nations send "high-level delegations" to North Korea?
My conclusion is that it is a good thing that it is a good thing that Ahmadinejad is losing popularity, because he is a seriously crazy guy who I think would nuke Israel in a heartbeat if given the chance. Some of the more sane mullahs might be at least disuaded from doing so by Israeli or American nuclear weapons.
But even this doesn't get us completely off the hook. An Iran with nuclear weapons is unacceptable, whether they use them or not. It would destabilize the entire region, and soon thereafter we'd have a nuclear Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, maybe even Jordan. Therefore, we still need to keep this issue on the front burner.
Posted by Tom at January 20, 2007 2:00 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theredhunter.com/mt/refer.cgi/817
Comments
I think the days of Pres. Ahmend____ power are limited. Now the clerics have begin to speak out against him. Ture, this doesn;t mean they will stop pursuit on fnukes, but at leaast this wacko will soon be out of a job (hopefully).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6286771.stm
Posted by: jason at January 22, 2007 1:14 PM
