The chattering classes are chortling today about the latest supposed mistake by Mitt Romney in which he is being condemned for telling the truth about the corrupt and violent political and economic culture of the Palestinians. Meanwhile in Tunisia, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta committed the real gaffe of the week when he told a credulous traveling press corps that the administration’s effort to get Iran to abandon its drive for nuclear weapons was working even if it didn’t look like it. As the New York Times reports:
“These sanctions are having a serious impact in terms of the economy of Iran.” He added that “while the results of that may not seem obvious at the moment,” the Iranians had expressed a willingness to negotiate, and that they “continue to seem interested in trying to find a diplomatic solution.”
Translation: We know Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is right when he says the sanctions aren’t doing a thing to make the Iranians change their minds and the Iranians know that we know. But as long as Tehran is willing to pretend to negotiate, we will pretend along with them because our main goal is to prevent Israel from trying to actually do something about this deadly threat. And if this makes it clear that all we are trying to do is to kick the can down the road until after the presidential election when we might have more “flexibility” to do a deal with the Iranians, then don’t believe your lying ears and eyes.
Congress is still arguing about trying to close up the gaping loopholes in the sanctions that have been exacerbated by the administration’s promiscuous granting of waivers that have served to sustain the Iranian economy. Under these circumstances and with Iran showing no signs of buckling, the notion that economic pressure will be enough to resolve the problem is without foundation. Of course, it is “not obvious at the moment” that sanctions are working because it is more than obvious they are not.
As for the Iranians’ willingness to negotiate, it is difficult to understand how even a veteran politician like Panetta can say this with a straight face. Of course, they are willing to keep talking with the West. Iran has been negotiating for years because they know that as long as they do so they can continue making progress toward their nuclear goal.
As the collapse of the P5+1 talks this summer proved, and as every previous attempt at diplomacy and engagement conducted by both the Bush and Obama administrations proved, the only ones to profit from the talking are the Iranians. They have used the time won by such prevarications well as their nuclear centrifuges keep spinning and their stockpile of refined uranium grows. The time frame of their program is unclear, but whether it is one or two years away from actually having a bomb or sooner, the moment is quickly approaching when their efforts will be so far advanced it will be too late for force to be employed to stop them.
At Panetta’s next stop in Israel, he will tell the Israelis to trust that President Obama will do the right thing on Iran even though “it may not seem obvious at the moment” that he has any attention of acting. But instead of laughing at Romney for asking a reasonable question about the London Olympics and for refusing to lie about the morally bankrupt culture of the Palestinians, those who follow foreign policy should be alarmed at Panetta’s pathetic attempt to keep engaging with Iran when doing so only serves the interests of the Islamist regime and its nuclear ambitions.
It may be true that the sanctions are having serious detrimental effects to the Iranian economy. So what? Does that mean the Iranians will stop their nuclear weapon program? Probably not. n nIran is no democracy and the thugs who run it will inflict tremendous suffering on their citizens all the while continuing to build nuclear bombs. To say that the sanctions are having an effect, even if true, is not enough to guarantee that the Iranians will cease their nuclear program. n nFurther, what if the U.S. is wrong? What if Iran is not suffering as much as we think or its people are willing to work through the sanctions? What then? n nIt is not enough that Iran is facing economic pressure. The only right course of action for any responsible nation is that the Iranian program is stopped and is never permitted to restart. Sanctions are not enough. n nDiplomacy has clearly failed. If this banter between Iran and the West continues, one day these Western diplomats will come to a meeting only to be met with the announcement that the Iranians have completed fully operational nuclear bombs. What will the West say then? n
Exactly. I once responded on a different post on the topic on Commentary a while back that it didn't matter if the sanctions had an effect (when an objector mentioned that the Iranian economy was being devastated or so), but if they had THE effect (of seriously hindering the Iranian program and actually buying us time instead of the Iranians [although how that could actually happen in reality I can''t even see], or of fully halting the Iranian program [although if the Iranians were so disposed to abandon their program I don't think there would even be this issue]). Obviously, it is merely pointing to effects (such as Iran "talking" with us) as if they are a sign of progress that is the problem in this and other areas. It's how Obama can say he's been spectacularly pro-Israel in his first term (we know he hasn't been), and how he can say his foreign policy in general has been a success (we know it hasn't been), and how he can say his economic programs are working (we know they haven't been) all with non-examples of any significant progress or change.
when has diplomacy stopped an insane regime bent on invading the whole world?
ah, to stop an insane regime it helps to have another insane regime on your side. Think of it this way. In one corner….Obama. In the other corner …. Uncle Joe Stalin. n nNuff said. n nOn to Tehran, Berlin, wherever.
Still, Israeli political "culture" is well aware of all of this, the determination of Iran to advance to nukes, the pathetic feeble fecklessness of Team O, the profound unreliability of O himself, but if you do a political sum-over-squares they are not preparing to attack Iran. They are willing to kick the can of the can kicking Prez down the road still.
As a Ynet article states:
” Iran brings forward nuclear timetable ”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4261977,00.html”
” Iran already possesses missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) that are capable of reaching Eastern Europe.
According to the Pentagon, in 2015 Iran will have missiles that can also pose a direct threat to the US. ”
So it’s yadda, yadda, yadda until 2015?
It is very clear that anything said by Obama (and by extension, by anyone from his administration, such as Panetta) is a lie. Like his Muslim friends, he appears incapable of making a true statement in which he believes, and his entire regime follows suit. Why then, should Israel believe any assurance from Panetta, especially since it is very obvious that all the diplomatic talk benefits no-one except Iran, and is a waste of time. It is long past time that Israel made some deliberate "gaffes", and told Panetta and Obama to ho to hell!