Anyone who has closely watched Iran and their leader M. Ahmadinejad realizes that Iran's nuclear efforts aren't a political situation, but a deeply spiritual/religious situation. That knowledge should change the approach taken towards Iran. Ahmadinejad sees himself as the person responsible for precipitating the return of the 12th Imam (aka the Mahdi), therefore Ahmadinejad needs to destroy Israel, or at least be in the midst of major warfare in the region for the Mahdi to appear as the "savior". According to Ahmadinejad's belief system, at that point the Mahdi will impose world-wide Sharia law and the world will live in an Islamic utopia.
This clearly isn't the usual political situation which can be solved through the usual political maneuverings.
Ashton: Iran nuclear talks end with no agreement
Talks meant to nudge Iran toward heeding UN Security Council demands to stop uranium enrichment collapsed Saturday, with Teheran shrugging off calls by six world powers to cease the activity that could be harnessed to make nuclear arms.
Announcing the failure of two days of negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said no new date for another meeting had been set. She blamed what the six consider unrealistic demands by Iran — an end to UN sanctions and agreement that Iran could continue to enrich — for the disappointing results.
Tony Blair, who has been assigned by the "Quartet" (Russia, U.S., EU and UN) to solve the problem involving Israel and the PA has now come out and suggested that military forces may be required. This represents a shocking admission:
Tony Blair: West must prepare to confront Iran
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged the west to confront Iran with force in order to face the "looming and coming challenge" from Iran, reported French news agency AFP on Saturday.
""It [Iran] has to be confronted and changed. Iran is a looming challenge. It is negative and destabilizing. It supports terrorists," said Blair on Friday during his remarks at the Chilcot inquiry, the British inquiry into the war in Iraq.
I can only say "better late than never to the party, Mr Blair".
"I say this to you with all of the passion I possibly can -- at some point the West has to get out of what I think is a wretched policy or posture of apology for believing that we are causing what the Iranians are doing, or what these extremists are doing," said Blair who serves as the Quartet representative to the Middle East.
Coming from Mr Blair, these words are unexpected and highly atypical - leaving one to wonder just what exactly is going on.
And this surprising comment (below) coming from U.S. Department spokesman Phillip Crowley:
Iran is not in full compliance with international obligations. Iran remains arguably the leading international state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is undermining the international community’s efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. These are all true. And we are willing to engage Iran to begin to address all of these issues," Crowley said.
Are we being prepared for some type of military action against Iran? I find this very hard to believe, but the these highly public quote leaves one to wonder why the sudden change in rhetoric. This could all be intended to simply put pressure on Iran, but the rhetoric seems to have gone beyond that. We'll have to wait and see.
The article below reminds us of what we are dealing with in terms of Iran's leadership:
Muslim World: Iran's execution binge
In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 15 in the isolated and overcrowded Urumiya prison in western Iran, the authorities hanged one of their opponents.
Hossein Khazri, an alleged activist with the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), was 29. He had been in custody since early 2009. His crime, of which he was convicted on July 11, 2009, was that of being an “enemy of God” in the eyes of the Islamic Republic.
Khazri’s specific activities against the deity worshiped by the rulers of Iran appear to have consisted of political agitation for democracy and federalism in the country of his birth.
n the course of his incarceration, in prisons administered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Intelligence Ministry, Khazri had been severely tortured, according to human rights organizations.
This is just one example of what Iran has been doing to political opponents for years.
His hanging was the latest in a wave of executions of Kurdish activists and other opponents of the regime carried out in recent weeks. Fourteen other Kurdish activists are currently on death row, condemned for their political activities.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran this week described the authorities as on an “execution binge,” orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies.
The hanging of Khazri brings the number of people executed by Iran since the beginning of the year to 47.
It may be worth noting that this year is only 3 weeks old. So Iran has implemented 47 executions in a mere three weeks. Remember the mantra we're supposed to quote mindlessly: Islam is a "religion of peace".
After the unrest following the rigged presidential elections of July 2009, the Islamist authorities’ repression in Kurdish areas of the country has once more sharply increased. Last May, the authorities began a crackdown as the anniversary of the elections approached. Four Kurdish activists, one a woman, were convicted of membership in PJAK and executed following severe torture.
None was given access to lawyers. PJAK denied any links with the four. All were convicted, like Hossein Khazri, of the crime of war against God.
And the "politically correct" approach by "the nations" is to plead with the Iranian leadership to engage in serious negotiations.
How has that approach worked out so far?
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