posted
i ran across this article while researching some bombs that went off in iran, which iran was blaming on the british. but thats a different story. We know that russia is going to be providing iran with enriched uranium despite objections from the US and israel. So i was thinking could this dispute escalate into tensions between russia and america again? also if you recall, right before iraq had fuel delivered to its nuclear reactor israel struck the facility and made it non operational. And israel is threatening to do the same thing with iran. Could these actions potentially set off a series of events with Russia? In my opinion this little problem can easily escalate into a huge one. Would it be in russia's best interest to keep supporting iran thereby infuriating the US? Could this be a strategic plan by russia to overextend america in the middle east and potentally lead to our demise by simply "pushing us over" once we are broke and beaten down by wars in iraq and iran? OR on the other hand, is the US overreacting to a legal and legitmate peacefull nuclear power program by iran? With the mistakes in iraq over "WMD's" how can we trust that our intelligence about irans abmitions are accurate? why is it that most of the intelligence we recieve about iran is from Israel? This alone raises some red flags in my mind. The source of our intel comes from one side of two enemies, how can you not think that the info is biased?
I dont know guys, i'm hoping for peace but its looking less and less likely.
Payvand's Iran News ...
10/18/05 Moscow Takes Tougher Stance On Iran Nuclear Issue By Claire Bigg No country, including the United States, will force Russia to abandon its nuclear commitment to Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared yesterday. The uncompromising statement came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to win Russian support for taking Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Moscow, 17 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Speaking on Russian television, Lavrov said Iran had the same right as other countries to develop what he called "peaceful nuclear energy" and reaffirmed Moscow's intention to continue helping Iran build a nuclear reactor near its gulf port city of Bushehr.
"No one," Lavrov added, "including the United States, will challenge our right to continue building the atomic electricity station in Bushehr."
Lavrov was merely reiterating Russia's position on Iran's disputed nuclear program, which the West fears could be aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
But his tone struck many as unusually sharp, particularly against the backdrop of Rice's surprise visit to Moscow on 15 October.
Rice flew to Moscow to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to back Washington's attempts to haul Iran before the UN Security Council if it refuses to return to diplomatic talks over its nuclear program.
Putin, however, remained unswayed, saying the issue needed to be solved within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Yevgenii Volk, the director of Moscow's Hermitage Foundation, said Lavrov's televised statements indicated a firmer Russian position.
"No such tough comment [on Iran] has been made in the past," Volk said. "This is definitely a hardening of Russia's stance, a clear signal to the U.S. that there can be no agreement on this issue today and that Russia intends to continue its atomic cooperation with Iran. In my opinion, this is a very serious moment in [U.S.- Russia] bilateral relations."
Volk said Iran's nuclear program has become the main bone of contention between the United States and Russia, and predicted this issue will seriously sour both countries' relations in the future.
"The Russia-U.S. relations concerning the Iranian issue are not improving, they are, on the contrary, worsening," Volk said. "In the future, this will seriously complicate other problems that now exist in bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington."
Some other analysts agree that Moscow looks set to continue resisting any Western efforts to refer the Iran nuclear crisis to the UN Security Council.
Ruslan Pukhov, a defense analyst who heads the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, said the protracted war in Iraq has weakened the United States in the eyes of Russia and emboldened Moscow to adopt a firmer tone on Iran.
"Maybe Russia can afford to express its dissatisfaction and its disagreement in a tougher manner because it understands in what difficult situation the U.S. now finds itself regarding the war in Iraq," Pukhov said.
Meanwhile, Russia today rejected a report published in the "Sunday Telegraph" on 16 October that former Russian military members helped Iran obtain ballistic-missile technology.
The report, which does not cite the sources of that information, claims Russia acted as a mediator between Iran and North Korea according to a deal they clinched in 2003.
-------------------- "Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over." Herbert Hoover 1930
IP: Logged |
I don't think Russia is doing anything to deliberately anger the United States. Russia is still in some financial difficulties and any income they can get is welcome.
As for Israel's intellegence. They are the most to lose from any threat in the Middle East. Everyone there has practically vowed to destroy them at the first opportunity.
For the most part, the US has also backed off on this one and let the EU handle it. They want it, why I don't know but so long as progress is beind made we will probably stay out of it with the exception of the occasional statement.
I have serious doubts Iran will ever get a working reactor. Israel already said they won't allow it. The key issue here is will we allow them to use Iraq airspace to get the job done. They probably have reached the technological level that they can take it out with missles which we would be hard pressed to stop anyway but an airstrike would be another matter.
IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
