Obama's U.N. Sanctions Push

IRAN

After long resisting calls to join in sanctions efforts aimed at the Iranian nuclear program, "China signaled to its partners on the United Nations Security Council that it is ready to consider a council resolution" in favor of sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "affirmed late Monday the participation in Iranian sanctions talks of China, seen as the most hesitant member of the so-called 'P5-plus-1' -- the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany that are negotiating with Tehran." On Wednesday, the six major world powers -- the United States, Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, and China -- agreed "to begin putting together proposed new sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program after China dropped its opposition." U.S. and other Western diplomats are "also pressing hard on two non-veto-wielding Council members, Turkey and Brazil, both of which have publicly questioned the usefulness of sanctions, to at least abstain on any final vote." President Obama predicted on Tuesday that he would be able to persuade the United Nations to "move forcefully" against Iran with new sanctions within weeks, not months. "The fact that Beijing has agreed to discuss these steps is bad news for Tehran," writes Iran analyst Meir Javedanfar. "This is why Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dispatched the top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, to hold talks with the Chinese government." State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the United States wants to focus on financial holdings of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, as part of a resolution that puts an appropriate bite on the Tehran government but spares the Iranian people undue hardship. The Iranian government remains defiant that sanctions will not halt its nuclear program.

'AN INTELLIGENCE COUP':
Earlier this week, ABC News reported that an Iranian nuclear scientist "who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, had defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States." Intelligence officials called the defection of scientist Shahram Amiri "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program. In a recent report (pdf) to Congress, the CIA concluded that "Iran continues to develop a range of capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons, if a decision is made to do so," but also restated its previous conclusion that "we do not know whether Tehran eventually will decide to produce nuclear weapons." While the upcoming National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran is expected to revise some of the key conclusions of the 2007 NIE -- which held that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen -- the news that the United States has had custody since last June of a key Iranian nuclear scientist raises questions about how drastic those revisions might be. ABC reports that Amiri "has been extensively debriefedThey say Amiri helped to confirm U.S. intelligence assessments about the Iranian nuclear program." Obama told CBS that "all the evidence indicates" that Tehran is trying to get the "capacity to develop nuclear weapons." since his defection by the CIA, according to the people briefed on the situation.
 
CONSERVATIVES COMPLAINING:  
For eight years, the Bush administration failed to effectively confront Iran's nuclear ambitions, yet many former Bush officials and supporters are now criticizing the Obama administration for the same thing. Former (recess-appointed) U.N. ambassador John Bolton, a long-time advocate of bombing Iran, said Thursday that Obama is "naive" in thinking more sanctions against Iran will stop its nuclear program. "This additional round of sanctions will have no material impact," Bolton said. Likewise declaring the new sanctions to be "failing" even before they've been adopted, Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute described the options as: "Either Iran gets a nuclear weaponpreparing to accept an Iranian nuclear weapon. However, another Weekly Standard writer, Reuel Marc Gerecht, has credited Obama's approach with putting pressure on the Iranian regime, writing that "Obama could rightly claim that his outreach policy toward the Islamic Republic helped create the tumult that we've seen" since Iran's June 12 elections. Similarly, journalist David Ignatius, a long-time Iran watcher, wrote that "White House officials argue that their strategy of engagement has been a form of pressure, and the evidence supports them." and we manage the risk, or someone acts to eliminate the threat" through military force. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol declared Obama's engagement policy a failure and accused the administration of
 
FORGING EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS:  

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-senator Obama clearly stated that a secondary benefit of his Iran engagement policy was the creation of greater international unity and focus on the Iranian nuclear problem. "If it [negotiation with Iran] doesn't work," Obama said during the first presidential debate, "then we [will] have strengthened our ability to form alliances to impose tough sanctions" on Iran. That strategy seems to be working. Russia had been a skeptic of sanctions, but has now indicated a willingness to consider them. In late March, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Iran was allowing an opportunity for mutually beneficial dialogue with the West to "slip away." "The [Iranian] regime has become more isolated since I came into office," Obama said in an interview with CBS News. "Part of the reason that we reached out to them was to say, 'You've got a path. You can take a path that allows you to rejoin the international community, or you can take a path of developing nuclear weapons capacity that further isolates you.'" Center for American Progress analysts Sam Charap and Brian Katulis wrote that Obama's "emphasis on collaboration and shared responsibilities constructed a new foundation for global security co-operation, which will extend beyond reining in Iran's nuclear program. In little over a year, the engagement policy has revived America's influence and leverage and created a diplomatic infrastructure that will make America more secure." As Rudy DeLeon, Winny Chen, and John Gans wrote in a 2008 report (pdf) for the Center for American Progress, "diplomacy, when integrated with other policy tools," provides "a powerful force multiplier for advancing U.S. interests."
 


There is nothing civil about civil wars!

You Gotta Hand It To The French........

The Left is Battering the Hell out of Sarkozy!

Published On Tue Mar 23

Hospital workers demonstrate in Paris, Tuesday March 23, 2010.

 

REMY DE LA MAUVINIERE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

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Elaine Ganley, The Associated Press

PARIS—President Nicolas Sarkozy's government vowed Tuesday to stay on track with belt-tightening reforms meant to modernize France's economy, despite nationwide strikes and a blistering weekend electoral defeat. Trains, schools and other public services were hobbled by the strike, culminating in around 180 protest marches around France, according to the CGT union. The biggest one was expected in Paris, where police said 31,000 turned out Tuesday afternoon. The CGT union put the number at 60,000 and said 650,000 demonstrated around France. Unions hoped their joint action would put the brakes on retirement reforms and public sector job cuts promised by Sarkozy, who has made making France's economy more globally competitive his priority. Unions say Sarkozy has failed workers, slashing jobs, particularly in education, puncturing purchasing power and now plans to attack the precious but costly pension system. Polls show barely one in three French want Sarkozy to run for a second term in 2012. Yet, the government response was defiant. Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliamentarians the changes were needed, and would continue despite the disastrous showing in Sunday's regional elections for the governing conservative party UMP. "We will not compromise the need to modernize our country," Fillon said without flinching. "Our duty is to adapt our economic and social organization to protect the French way of life." He said France would continue to reduce the number of civil servants, the largest employment roll, by not replacing one employee in two who retires or quits. The brand new labour minister, Eric Woerth, vowed to move ahead with reforming the "extremely fragile" pension system — the most critical change expected, and Sarkozy's biggest political challenge this year. "We must maintain the goal which is that of reform. The nation needs to be competitive, to (create) the jobs of tomorrow," Woerth said, a day after his appointment in a government reshuffle to account for Sunday's election result. The UMP lost all but three of 26 regions to the Socialists and their ecology allies in the vote. Sarkozy fired his labour minister, Xavier Darcos, as a result and brought in ministers from various tendencies within the conservative movement, itself divided over Sarkozy's policies. An ally of former President Jacques Chirac, Francois Baroin, replaced Woerth as budget minister. An ally of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, expected to launch his own party Thursday, was also added to the government, lawmaker Georges Tron, as junior minister for civil service. Francois Chereque, head of the CFDT union, said the Cabinet changes were a "bad sign about the government's social commitment. "They zap the labour minister as if it were a technical ministry with less importance," he said on France-Inter radio, noting that France has its fourth labour minister since Sarkozy took office in 2007. In another concession to Sarkozy's conservative base, the government plans to suspend an expected law to tax carbon dioxide emissions, leading UMP legislator Jean-Francois Cope said Tuesday. The carbon tax had been a central plank of Sarkozy's push for a more prominent role in the global fight against climate change. But it was criticized within Sarkozy's own party, with many arguing it would disadvantage French companies compared to European rivals. In Tuesday's strike, the French capital saw only minimal disruptions to the subway system, and fast trains to Britain and Belgium ran normally. But only 65 per cent of train traffic was guaranteed within France. An estimated 30 per cent of primary school teachers failed to show up for class nationwide, the Education Ministry said, with around 18 per cent out in junior high schools and 11 per cent out in high schools. Nearly 16 per cent of employees of the Finance Ministry also skipped work and a full 37.5 per cent were no-shows at the Budget Ministry, according to midday estimates by the Labor Ministry.

There is nothing civil about civil wars!