Mars and Venus: Round 2
Well, here we go again. Iran is no more going to abandon its nuclear weapons program than Saddam was going to stop handing over $25,000 rewards to the families of intifada suicide bombers. But despite all the evidence of Teheran's malfeasance, the talk therapy is continuing. Haven't we been here before? Listen to this: What's going on now with Iran is taking place in a "profoundly unserious international environment." Unsurprisingly, that kind of indictment comes from the pen of Robert Kagan, who authored the essential "Power and Weakness" four years ago. Today, Kagan returns to the Washington Post with "On Iran, Giving Futility Its Chance". Money graf:
For the Europeans this means trying not once, not twice, not three times, but again and again and again and again, because at the end of the day they don't want to take any action against Iran. They must be brought along, step by tiny step, ever marginally closer to a decision until finally they must either come along or explicitly and embarrassingly retreat from their own public commitments. Bush would know he can be patient, because he does not need a resolution this month or even this year. He can keep pressing on the diplomatic front until a time of his choosing, at which point he can bring the matter to a head.
As President Bush emphasized in his press conference today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Stralsund, the mullahs are not going to have the bomb. "I truly think they are trying to wait us out," Bush said. And Merkel added: "The door has not been closed but Iran must know that those who have submitted this offer are willing ... to act in concert and to show this clearly through their action in the Security Council." Yes, but at some point, the talking will have to stop. And as Kagan points out, Bush is not going to wait until 2009.
