posted
Sadly, a threat to ANYBODY with nuclear bombs is a threat to me and you and him and her and.....
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
i really do think this was intended to put Iran on notice...
France is the most "neautral" of the Nuke powers.. it solves some tough political problems...
France got a bad rap in the Iraq deal... they refused to support US, but it seems they were correct huh? maybe they aren't too bad at the intel game? eh?
Iran is the real deal... that's one of the reasons the Iraq WMD thing pi$$ed me off so much... Iran took advantage of the "intel mistakes".... what was that story about the boy and the wolf?
don't get me wrong, i don't wanna see nukes either, but somebody is going to have to blink... Iran with nukes would be a very very bad thing...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought France was right about Iraq all along, but I never credited that to Chirac. I think they were looking at it dispassionately and, as a result, correctly..."they", not Chirac.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
There will never be peace in the middle east. They have been murderous thugs and racist religious fanatics for thousands of years. And now they feel they can make a run at it once again. Arrogant, and "we're better than you" attitude, because their god said so. Reminds me of the Snazi's.
And the murdering supporters are joining forces: Syria Supports Iran in Nuclear Standoff http://tinyurl.com/9yxp8
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria asserted Thursday that Iran had a right to atomic technology and said Western objections to Tehran's nuclear ambitions were not persuasive. ADVERTISEMENT Adblock
President Bashar Assad of Syria, a longtime Iranian ally facing its own international criticism, said he backed Tehran's moves toward nuclear power and wanted to strengthen ties.
"We support Iran regarding its right to peaceful nuclear technology," Assad said at a news conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the start of two days of meetings. "It is the right of Iran and any other state to own nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Countries that object to that have not provided a convincing or logical reason."
Russia's Foreign Minister Thursday called for a cautious approach to the mounting crisis over Iran's renewal of nuclear research, while a senior U.S. envoy accused Tehran of deceiving the world about its intentions.
The U.S. and key European nations have been pushing for Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council, a first step toward possible sanctions over Iran's unsealing equipment earlier this month and announcing the start of small-scale experimental uranium enrichment, a potential step toward nuclear weapons.
Syria is facing its own international condemnation, over its reluctance to cooperate with a U.N. investigation implicating it in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus has denied any role.
Ahmadinejad said the two countries needed to coordinate their positions.
"Considering that Syria is the steadfast party confronting Israel, and Iran is the defender of the Islamic revolution, this obliges us to have more consultation and cooperation," the Iranian president said in Farsi comments translated into Arabic.
"The circumstances in the region dictate on us such strengthening (of ties)," he said.
Syria, Iran's closest Arab ally, sits on the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which meets on Feb. 2 to vote on referring Tehran to the Security Council.
Gregory L. Schulte, America's delegate to the IAEA, accused Iran on Thursday of deceiving the world about its atomic program, saying that referring Iran to the Security Council would be meant to deny "the most deadly of weapons to the most dangerous of countries."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for a cautious approach.
"In this situation it is essential not to harm the global community, the nuclear nonproliferation regime," he said.
Moscow and Beijing carry great weight with other IAEA board countries and both have vetoes on the 15-member Security Council. They are opposed to sanctioning a country with which they have strong economic and strategic ties. In recent days, they have expressed reluctance even to the idea of referral.
Placing an embargo on Iran's oil exports would hurt Tehran, which earns most of its revenues from energy sales, but also roil world crude markets.
Schulte, in comments at a public lecture, played down differences with Russia and China, saying both "have been pressing very strongly on Tehran."
Alluding to comments by Ahmadinejad denying Israel's right to exist, Schulte said: "A country that threatens 'death' to other countries must be denied the most deadly of weapons."
Iran's top nuclear negotiator told the British Broadcasting Corp. that his country is ready to compromise with the West.
"If they want guarantees of no diversion of nuclear fuel, we can reach a formula acceptable to both sides in talks," the negotiator, Ali Larijani, told the BBC.
The offer to guarantee nuclear fuel won't be diverted to weapons was unlikely to satisfy Europe and the U.S., which are insisting Iran not enrich uranium at all.
Iran insists its plans for enrichment are only to produce nuclear fuel. But a series of suspicious finds by IAEA inspectors over almost three years have hardened suspicions that Iran wants to make weapons-grade uranium for nuclear warheads.
Europe, backed by the United States, on Wednesday rejected an Iranian request to renew talks.
France, Germany and Britain had been leading negotiations on behalf of the 25-member European Union.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told ZDF television from Egypt Thursday that talks had "reached a point where we would have risked our credibility if we had simply continued" but that "does not mean that we are no longer seeking diplomatic solutions."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that "there's not much to talk about" until Iran halts nuclear activity. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, also rejected any return to talks
Ahmadinejad Wednesday accused the West of acting like the "lord of the world" in denying his country the peaceful use of the atom.
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Marty, that all reads exactly like the PR we got about Iraq before the invasion. Guess that menas the Party had already decided to invade Iran long ago.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Iraq was one country, this is two....oh, and here's some more (BTW, I don't condone the Iraq war....Afghanistan is a different story). Looks like their trying to form an alliance. Very nice, except something smells funny. Can you smell it?. Just what the world needs. An alliance of murders: http://tinyurl.com/dly35 Iran President Meets Palestinian Leaders
DAMASCUS, Syria - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met Friday with the leaders of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Syria, expressing his support a day after 20 people were wounded in Tel Aviv in a suicide attack claimed by Jihad. ADVERTISEMENT
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said Syria planned the attack and Iran funded it. Iranian and Syrian officials have denied any involvement by their countries.
Shortly before he left Syria at the end of a two-day visit, President Ahmadinejad reiterated that Syria and Iran had formed a "front" to oppose what he called world "arrogance and domination," a reference to the United States and its Western allies.
In a final statement, the two governments expressed support for Iran's right to the peaceful exploitation of nuclear power and criticized what they called the "selective and double-standard policy practiced by some international powers in this regard." The remark was a reference to U.S. and European opposition to Iran's enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce material for atomic bombs.
In a second reference to certain Western powers, the statement said Iran and Syria demanded a timetable "for the withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq."
On the second and final day of his first official visit to Syria, Ahmadinejad held separate meetings with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and a representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Earlier Friday, Mofaz said Israel had "definitive proof" of Iranian and Syrian involvement in Thursday's attack in Tel Aviv where a suicide bomber wounded 20 people in a fast-food restaurant. He said the findings would be shared with American and European officials.
On Thursday, his first day in Syria, the Iranian president made a new attack on the existence of Israel, challenging Europe to take back the Jews who emigrated to Israel.
Addressing Europe, he asked: "Would you open the doors of your own countries to these (Jewish) immigrants so that they could travel to any part of Europe they chose?"
He said he was confident that no Jews would remain in Israel if European countries allowed them to immigrate, according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, which reported the remarks on Friday.
Ahmadinejad provoked an international outcries last year when he said Israel should be "wiped out" and that the Nazi Holocaust against Jews in World War II was a "myth."
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'll be buying a hybrid when I get back from vacation....that's for sure...
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yea, I can dig that....Afghanistan had to be "closed for business". Iraq, just wasn't complying....swaying, procrastinating, doing the hula...whatever....Iran is being more savvy....their playin'real hardball and gettin' ready:
Friday, January 20, 2006; Posted: 9:16 a.m. EST (14:16 GMT)
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Amid the threat of possible U.N. economic sanctions, Iran announced Friday it is transferring its foreign exchange accounts out of U.S. and European banks, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Ibrahim Sheibani, the head of Iran's Central Bank, said the Islamic state will transfer all of its foreign accounts related to its oil income to Southeast Asian banks, according to the conservative news agency.
The United States and Europe could block Iran's foreign accounts if the U.N. imposes economic sanctions on Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has called an emergency meeting on February 2 to discuss Iran's resumption of nuclear activities.
Three European nations -- Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU3 -- referred the issue to the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, after a stalemate in negotiations with Iran.
The issue is expected to be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions on the Islamic state.
Iran recently broke the seals on its Natanz uranium enrichment plant to resume what it says is nuclear research.
The United States and the EU3 want Iran to halt all nuclear activity, fearing it may try to build a nuclear weapon under the guise of a nuclear energy program.
Iran's Economic Minister Danesh Jafari said the transfer of funds is legal under international law.
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
Iran 'moves assets out of Europe' Isfahan uranium conversion facility Iran could face sanctions if it is brought before the UN Iran has started moving its foreign exchange reserves out of Europe in a bid to shield the country from the threat of sanctions, reports suggest.
Iran's central bank governor said the country had begun withdrawing assets from European banks, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.
Iran is embroiled in a row with the US and European Union over allegations it is attempting to build nuclear weapons.
The UN's atomic agency is due to meet on 2 February to discuss the crisis.
Russian solution?
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Moscow says a possible solution to the growing dispute may have emerged, after Russia said Iran has expressed interest in a proposal to enrich uranium on Russian territory.
The highly sensitive process of enriching uranium is what lies at the heart of the dispute between the West and Iran.
Iran has started withdrawing money from European banks and transferring it to other banks abroad Iranian official
Low level enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power stations, but uranium enriched to higher levels can be used in nuclear weapons.
Western countries are afraid that oil-rich Iran is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons and that allowing it to master the enrichment process will inevitably lead to weapons acquisition.
Iran denies the allegations, claiming it wants the technology for energy purposes alone.
Moscow's offer to carry out enrichment for Teheran, but supervised on Russian soil was first made last year, but rejected.
Emergency meeting
Now the head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kirienko, has told President Vladimir Putin that Iran is ready for detailed discussions about the proposal.
Natanz nuclear facility in Iran Iran has broken the seals on three nuclear facilities
Mr Kirienko added that Iranian officials may come to Moscow for talks in the near future.
Our correspondent says the plan could be the best hope of defusing the escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.
Western nations have been pressing for the issue to be referred to the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to refer Iran to the Security Council.
The council has the power to impose international trade or diplomatic sanctions against Iran.
Assets withdrawn
In response to the threat Iranian central bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani revealed earlier in the week that Iran had begun the process of shifting its assets from Europe, the Iranian Students News Agency said on Friday.
"We transfer foreign currency reserves related to all sectors including oil foreign exchanges to wherever it is good for us and we have started this transfer," the agency quoted him saying.
"Iran has started withdrawing money from European banks and transferring it to other banks abroad, " a senior Iranian official told the Reuters agency.
It was not immediately clear where the assets were being moved to, although reports have suggested that Iranian funds could be heading out of Europe to Asia.
Iran's assets in the US were frozen after the revolution of 1979, which saw the pro-Western Shah toppled and a clerical regime installed in Tehran.
It is difficult to estimate the amount of assets that Iran has abroad, but the Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily said that about $8bn (£4.5bn) had already been moved, mainly to Asian markets.
Other sources have put the total value of Iran's foreign assets at somewhere between $30bn and $50bn.
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I would agree to that...it's a mess, and it just keeps getting messier...where's Underdog when ya' need 'em LOL.....
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
wow, just mentioned Christopher Cox with Wily Coyote on another thread--now you bring up Wally Cox...
gotta be quick around here...
seriously, have you heard of Albert Brooks' new movie? Sumpin like "Finding Comedy in Islam Cultures"
The character is named Albert Brooks...
My bottom-line take, which may be a leap-of-faith to follow my rationale until you hear of the movie, is that we shouldn't ask soldiers to be peacemakers in a culture they can't comprehend.
First, the major training is to kill the enemy.
Second, suddenly they're peacekeepers?
Third, three months before they arrive, many had never even seen actual combat...
posted
skwoowy wabbit, "quicks" are for kids....LOL...
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
lexikon...LOL....the Webster boyz would have a field day with that...."did you mean, lexicon?"
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Can't get passed the seventh power, while Jupiter is in-line with Mars Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
What's a cul-de-sac? LOL...
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
People are going to be mad at me over this but, France is telling it like they see it. The U.S. supplied IRAQ with weapons, and before that IRAN. We went in and saved Saudi,s(even though they hate us) against IRAN. Now that these countries aren,t serving our best interests, well, to hell they go. In my opinion, Kill Osama asap. Localize nukes in IRAN. Read France,s news wire. Saudi,s are harboring terrists. Take them out with local nukes too. The bible says the world is going to go from fire and brimestone this time. NOAH, get ready. It,s gonna take more than an ARK on this.
Posts: 45 | From: Cincinnati | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The USA has nukes,along with, England france germany india pakistan china russia israel and many more... north korea... ooohh I'm afraid... how come viet nam doesn't have nukes? Because the usa doesn't have 50,000 troops on their border doing war games. We scare the north koreans into arming up so the 50% of the defence spending in the pacific can be justified. North Korea has no plans to attack anyone, why would they, China is our biggest trading partner most US companys are frothing at the mouth to get into their markets or to move their factories there including Bushes comerce secratary who is moving his company there. China is comunist do they attack their neighbors? Bush is trying to start a cold war with them but it's failing because we do so much bisness with them. he cant take on N korea cus they have nukes,, so his last hope is to start this new bs with Iran. Iran has not lifted a finger against anyone. Dick Cheney has been doing buisnes in Iran for years and lobied congress to have free trade with them as haliburtons ceo in the 90s. haliburton had to claim forein status to do bisnes with Iran and go around the US laws not to do bisnes with Iran. And now I'm suposed to be afraid of them?. The criminal little Bush, Dick cheney, donald the gas man rumsfield, who gave sadam all his chemical weapons, can all retire and take there millions to some offshore bank account where they wont have to pay taxes,, and leave the american people alone... Please..
Posts: 203 | From: Renton, WA | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
Actually Korea does plan to attack someone, South Korea. They have had these plans since they first attacked South Korea in 1950 and since then, they have never signed a formal peace treaty with the South.
Vietnam doesn't have nukes because they have no further desires of conquest.
Why does Iran want Nukes?
Posts: 559 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
Iran Threatens Full-Scale Enrichment 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria - Iran upped the ante Monday in its nuclear standoff, warning that it will immediately begin developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council. ADVERTISEMENT Adblock
The message, delivered by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected Tehran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production but it is also a pathway to making nuclear weapons.
Negotiations intensified ahead of a Feb. 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board to decide on referral.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, planned to travel to Moscow on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors a compromise that would provide more oversight and ease tensions.
A European official said the two sides would discuss the possibility of allowing Iran to conduct small-scale experimental enrichment itself if it agreed to move all industrial production to Russia.
The official, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential details of the negotiations, refused to say whether Britain, France and Germany the key European nations behind the U.S.-supported push for referral would tolerate such a deal.
Those European nations and EU representatives also intensified diplomatic efforts, with diplomats telling the AP they were sending senior representatives to Brazil, Russia, China and Indonesia to persuade the key IAEA board members to drop their opposition to referral.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for a step-by-step diplomatic approach in the standoff, saying she wants "the largest majority possible" for whatever course of action is decided upon by the IAEA.
While the Europeans believe they have enough votes to get Iran hauled before the council Feb. 2, they want broad support, including from key developing countries as well as skeptics Russia and China.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "referral absolutely has to be made" on Feb. 2, while remaining vague on what action the Security Council would take and when.
Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment Jan. 10 and announced it would restart experiments, including what it described as small-scale enrichment a move that led the European negotiators to call for the Feb. 2 emergency board session.
The Europeans also began drafting a resolution calling for the Security Council to press Tehran to re-impose its freeze on enrichment and fully cooperate with the U.N. agency in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities though it stops short of asking for sanctions.
Soltaniyeh, in comments to The Associated Press, warned against referral, suggesting such a "hasty decision" would backfire.
Whether Iran's suspension of its full-scale enrichment program remains in effect "depends on the decision of Feb. 2," he said. If the board votes for referral, he said, Iran would resume efforts to fully develop its nascent enrichment activities.
Iran insists its nuclear ambitions do not go beyond wanting to generate fuel, but concerns are growing that its focus is on making nuclear weapons.
An exchange of letters, made available to the AP Monday, reflected differences over Iran between IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and the United States, Britain, France and Australia other key supporters of referral.
In a letter dated Friday, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, asked ElBaradei to prepare a report on the "status of IAEA efforts to investigate indications of an Iranian nuclear weapons program." Similar letters from the other countries were dated Thursday and Monday.
In a reply Monday, ElBaradei wrote that a detailed report would only be available in March, the next scheduled meeting of the IAEA board. Instead, ElBaradei who had argued against the special Feb.2 meeting saying he needed until March to probe Iran's nuclear program offered an "update brief" for the Feb. 2 meeting.
Separately, Merkel, speaking at a news conference with President Jacques Chirac, defended the French leader's threat last week that France might use its nuclear weapons against state-sponsored terrorism or to thwart an attack involving weapons of mass destruction comments that drew criticism from elsewhere in Europe and from Iran.
"We know that France is a country with nuclear capabilities, capabilities that exist exclusively for deterrence and, for me, there are no grounds there for criticism," she said.
Chirac said he had simply delivered a reminder of France's nuclear doctrine.
"The nature of the threat, the defintion of a country's vital interests, and thus the very nature of the response that might be employed, evolves with time," he said.
-------------------- Marty When I was born, I was granted a visitors pass to earth. I will enjoy everyday until it has expired. You should too ;) Posts: 1740 | From: NJ, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- M.M. Semester #3 started,Only 7 more semesters to go. Why, in an age where information is so easy to get, cant we find information on one man. Experience is something you dont get until just after you need it. Posts: 1002 | From: Southaven, Mississippi, US | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
bubbubbybeye Teheran???![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
LOL.....
