Iran, Obama, and nukes. . . A British view.

[AztecWilliam]

I find Dick Morris a very entertaining observer of today's political scene. That doesn't mean that he is always right; far from it. But as a long time Washington insider, his comments are usually worth listening to.

One such comment was offered by him several weeks ago. He said bluntly that the Obama administration had basically given up hope that it would be able to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program. It seems to me that Morris may be quite correct in that belief.

Here is a view on that topic from a British observer. Since there is much at stake in this matter I hope you will see what he has to say.

www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/concoughlin/6023574/Ignoring-Irans-nuclear-plan-would-be-the-Wests-greatest-blunder.html

AzWm

[Bob Forsythe]

Much of the blame for the failure to coax Tehran to the negotiating table, or so it was argued this week, lies with Mr Obama and his unwillingness to take a hard line with the ayatollahs. At the height of the pro-reform demonstrations in June, when the regime’s guardians launched a brutal assault to suppress the protests, he refused to be drawn into an open condemnation of their tactics.

Yeah, Bush's hard line did so much to curb their nuclear ambitions . Tell ya what this is - another example of the Euros thinking that the U.S. can somehow bail them out. After all, if only Obama had spoken out against the election more, the Iranians would have been shamed into doing something about it. How stupid is that? The Euros spoke out against the election and it got them nothing. Of course, in the meantime, there is no way the Euros care to endanger oil sources, so they publicly say things while assuring the Iranians that it's all about saving face.

If they had any balls at all, they'd cut off all exports of gasoline to Iran and cut back on their imports of Iranian oil (or even better, adopt the same sanctions this country has and refuse to refine Iranian oil) and let them rot. But they won't do that, nor will the Japanese or the Chinese, the two largest buyers of Iranian oil, place any sort of sanctions on them.

But hey, it's just so much easier to claim that Obama is to blame because he didn't condemn the elections (and quite frankly, it is not clear at all that Ahmadinejad would not have won without the bull$#!+).

=Bob

[aztecwin]

Aug 20, 2009 17:43:16 GMT -8 Bob Forsythe said:

Much of the blame for the failure to coax Tehran to the negotiating table, or so it was argued this week, lies with Mr Obama and his unwillingness to take a hard line with the ayatollahs. At the height of the pro-reform demonstrations in June, when the regime’s guardians launched a brutal assault to suppress the protests, he refused to be drawn into an open condemnation of their tactics.

Yeah, Bush's hard line did so much to curb their nuclear ambitions . Tell ya what this is - another example of the Euros thinking that the U.S. can somehow bail them out. After all, if only Obama had spoken out against the election more, the Iranians would have been shamed into doing something about it. How stupid is that? The Euros spoke out against the election and it got them nothing. Of course, in the meantime, there is no way the Euros care to endanger oil sources, so they publicly say things while assuring the Iranians that it's all about saving face.

If they had any balls at all, they'd cut off all exports of gasoline to Iran and cut back on their imports of Iranian oil (or even better, adopt the same sanctions this country has and refuse to refine Iranian oil) and let them rot. But they won't do that, nor will the Japanese or the Chinese, the two largest buyers of Iranian oil, place any sort of sanctions on them.

But hey, it's just so much easier to claim that Obama is to blame because he didn't condemn the elections (and quite frankly, it is not clear at all that Ahmadinejad would not have won without the bull$#!+).

=Bob

A rather disjointed reply that does have one good idea. You may not have meant it this way, but to go ahead and buy all the oil that Iran can pump is not a bad thing. We just must not allow refined petrol back in. Bring their economy to its knees!

[Bob Forsythe]

Aug 22, 2009 6:50:56 GMT -8 aztecwin said:

Aug 20, 2009 17:43:16 GMT -8 Bob Forsythe said:

Much of the blame for the failure to coax Tehran to the negotiating table, or so it was argued this week, lies with Mr Obama and his unwillingness to take a hard line with the ayatollahs. At the height of the pro-reform demonstrations in June, when the regime’s guardians launched a brutal assault to suppress the protests, he refused to be drawn into an open condemnation of their tactics.

Yeah, Bush's hard line did so much to curb their nuclear ambitions . Tell ya what this is - another example of the Euros thinking that the U.S. can somehow bail them out. After all, if only Obama had spoken out against the election more, the Iranians would have been shamed into doing something about it. How stupid is that? The Euros spoke out against the election and it got them nothing. Of course, in the meantime, there is no way the Euros care to endanger oil sources, so they publicly say things while assuring the Iranians that it's all about saving face.

If they had any balls at all, they'd cut off all exports of gasoline to Iran and cut back on their imports of Iranian oil (or even better, adopt the same sanctions this country has and refuse to refine Iranian oil) and let them rot. But they won't do that, nor will the Japanese or the Chinese, the two largest buyers of Iranian oil, place any sort of sanctions on them.

But hey, it's just so much easier to claim that Obama is to blame because he didn't condemn the elections (and quite frankly, it is not clear at all that Ahmadinejad would not have won without the bull$#!+).

=Bob

A rather disjointed reply that does have one good idea. You may not have meant it this way, but to go ahead and buy all the oil that Iran can pump is not a bad thing. We just must not allow refined petrol back in. Bring their economy to its knees!

Cutting off gasoline supplies is the main sword we have to hang over them. What I don't know is the refinery production in Russia and China, both of whom are willing to stick it to us big time.

=Bob