ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style6 { height: 69px; } h2 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style7 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140" class="style6"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" class="style6"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2"></td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Iran&#39;s New U.N. Sanctions</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright May 18, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style7">P</span>laying games with the U.N. Security Council, Iran tried yesterday to float a new proposal to allow Turkey and Brazil to reprocess its enriched uranium, an attempt to avert a new round of sanctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When past Director-General of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaredei warned Tehran Nov. 9, 2009 about continued defiance, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadd rejected any U.N. attempt to contain Iran s nuclear program.  The great nation of Iran will never bow to pressure and intimidation vis-à-vis its inalienable right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, said Ahamadinejad, rejecting IAEA efforts to rein-in Iran s nuclear enrichment program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Western powers don t accept Ahamadinejad s interpretation of  peaceful uses, since<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>stockpiling nuclear bombs for Mutual Assured Destruction is on its face for  peaceful purposes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced May 18 a major breakthrough in a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iranian sanctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Veto-wielding Security Council holdouts Russia and China finally agreed to more sanctions after Tehran proposed with Brazil and Turkey a new half-baked plan to ship low-level enriched uranium to the two countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany all agreed on new sanctions designed to get Iran to comply with past resolutions to halt its enrichment program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken by Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide. Hillary told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Neither Russia nor China bought Iran s latest effort to buy more time, avoid new sanctions and continue its feverish pursuit of highly enriched weapons grade uranium.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Iran s nuclear enrichment centrifuges have steadily grown over the last few years, now estimated in the thousands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ahmadinejad announced April 9 that Iran was using more efficient centrifuges boosting nuclear enrichment more rapidly from three to 20%, close to weapons grade<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Iran s nuclear path is irreversible. The Iranian nation has reached a new point where no power can deter it from moving full speed ahead to reach peaceful nuclear energy, said Ahmadinejad at an April 9 ceremony from which he revealed a new high-speed centrifuge from behind a curtain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Iran rejected last year s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.N. proposal to reprocess low-grade-uranium in Russia and France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Yesterday s announcement about reprocessing uranium in Brazil and Turkey reassured no one at the IAEA or the West.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> There are a number of unanswered questions regarding the announcement coming from Tehran, said Clinton.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Tehran that Israeli won t sit idly by while Iran pursues the A-bomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Israeli acted forcefully in 1981, blowing up Saddam Hussein s Osirak nuclear reactor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> From this lectern, I call on the enlightened nations to rise and powerfully condemn Iran s genocidal intentions and act with real resolve to stop Iran arming itself with nuclear weapons, Netnanyu told an audience on Holocaust Memorial Day at Yad Vashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>If Ahmadinejad didn t repeatedly threaten Israel, Netanyahu wouldn t see Tehran as an existential threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Clinton s latest announcement of new sanctions may not satisfy Netanyahu, looking less for reassurance than concrete steps to contain Iran s nuclear ambitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No amount of diplomatic talk changes Iran s accelerated enrichment program at its heavily fortified underground Natanz nuclear facility.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Admadinejad s triangulation of Brazil and Turkey attempts to short-circuit new U.N. sanction designed impede Iran s nuclear development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I think Iran has taken a leap forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now it s in a very positive situation which should be appreciated by international players, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who s fought a new round of U.N. sanctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Da Silva believes more sanctions antagonize Iran into a defensive posture, potentially breaking off relations with the U.N. and IAEA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Iran s pursuit of the A-bomb directly relates to a siege mentality, calling the U.N. Security Council  bullying powers designed to rob the nation from its rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue  peaceful nuclear power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ahmandinejad subscribes to Pakistan s definition of  peaceful, having neutralized its archenemy India by building atomic bombs.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>No longer bashing Israel during a tough election year, Clinton scored some political points getting Russia and China to sign onto a new sanctions regime against Tehran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hillary knows there s linkage between an eventual Palestinian peace deal and containing Tehran s feverish pursuit of nuclear bombs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Israel finds no priority in peacemaking when its existence is threatened by a potential nuclear holocaust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged Tehran to comply fully with IAEA monitoring requirements for its nuclear program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Brazil and Turkey s deal with Tehran can only work if Iran agrees to the IAEA s vigorous monitoring regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Brazil and Turkey must wake up to Iran s ultimate goal:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>An arsenal of nuclear weapons giving Tehran strategic power in the Middle East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Without sanctions that bite, there s little chance of changing Iran s mind.</p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis </b>writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He&#x2019;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homecobolos> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>