Big Dogs Weblog

The Impotence Of Words

by Blake on Oct 4, 2009 at 10:44 Political

There will be a war- just how big, or how severe, is still to be determined, but all the key players are lining up, all while our Resident thinks the sound of his mellifluous voice will sooth the savage nuclear holocaust. He is a legend in his own mind- unfortunately, he impresses no one else, especially the ones he has needed to impress. It is to the point now where even internet pundits and newspapers are opining about the impotence of our Resident.

Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.

Will the congressional intelligence committees demand to know how such a deliberately misleading report was being leaked and fed to the public by half-baked pundits even after (we now learn) some part of the “intelligence community” knew — before the the NIE was issued — about the secret nuclear fuel facility we’re now reading about?

What took them so long? Or if there were reasons to keep silent about it, why issue a report that deliberately misled the world into the opposite conclusion? The NIE now appears to be a deliberate LIE — deliberate disinformation, disingenuously written by its authors, who should be hauled before the committees and asked how they could have made such fools of the “intelligence community” and those who took their report seriously.

pajamasmedia.com

First, the lie- the report, as Ron correctly says, gave the Iranians about two years free rein on constructing the essential components necessary to make a bomb. This report also puts Israel in a corner- and if our Resident thinks he can control, or even should control Israel, he is vastly wrong, but perhaps he has wanted this all along- certainly he has almost willfully made every diplomatic miscue he possibly could.

The Obama administration’s positive tone following its first diplomatic encounter with Iran covers a deep and growing gloom in Washington and European capitals. Seven hours of palaver in Geneva haven’t altered an emerging conclusion: None of the steps the West is considering to stop the Iranian nuclear program is likely to work.

Not talks. Not sanctions, even of the “crippling” variety the Obama administration has spoken of. Not military strikes. And probably not support for regime change through the still-vibrant opposition.

For obvious reasons, senior officials won’t state this broad conclusion out loud. But it’s not hard to find pessimistic public statements about three of the four options. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the prospects for diplomacy “very doubtful.” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said military action will do no more than “buy time.” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, echoing private statements I’ve heard from the Obama administration, told me last week that a strategy of backing the Iranian opposition “would take too long” and might well produce a government with the same nuclear policy.

washingtonpost.com

It is rapidly becoming obvious to almost everyone except, apparently the Resident, that the time for action is rapidly approaching- and what form it takes, or who is who’s allies, well, that part is truly murky, and the most dangerous aspect of the whole scenario, because of America’s “diminishment” on the world stage, due in large part to the Resident’s Perpetual Apology Tour, and the rise of Russia, China, and India as emerging powers. Especially Russia.

American officials said concern about Russian experts acting without official approval, had been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report more than a year ago.

“There has been Russian help. It is not the government, it is individuals, at least one helping Iran on weaponisation activities and it is worrisome,” said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who is president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

However, Israeli officials insist that any Russian scientists working in Iran could do so only with official approval.

Robert Einhorn, the special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is understood to believe that Russian companies have also supplied material that has been used by Iran in the production of ballistic missiles.

The disclosures came as Iran agreed at talks in Geneva to submit to IAEA inspections of its newly disclosed enrichment plant, which is being built under a mountain on a military base at Qom. Iran revealed the plant to the IAEA to pre-empt being caught out by an imminent announcement from western governments, which had discovered its existence.

The West says the plant is tailor-made for a secret weapons programme and proves Iran’s claim that its nuclear programme is intended only for peaceful purposes is a lie. The plant is designed to hold 3,000 centrifuges — enough to produce the material needed for one bomb a year.

Iran’s conduct over the next few weeks will determine whether the West continues its new dialogue or is compelled to increase pressure with tougher United Nations and other sanctions.

timesonline.co.uk

Sanctions? I think the time for that may be well past. Just as you can really only help those who are willing to help themselves, you can only punish those who fear the punishment- nothing else works, and I am afraid the Resident doesn’t know that, and there is no one telling him this reality. Just as he knows nothing about the military, and thus is disengaged about Afghanistan, he thinks, even after his ignominious defeats at all of his meetings, including the Olympics plea, tha the power of his personality will still win the day.

I have bad news for him- his ego is not a weapon- nor is it particularly impressive, as you actually have to be able to back it up on the world stage, and so far, he has bupkus. The rest of the world laughs at him, and apparently it is obvious to everyone but him.

I wish he could do something about this situation, I truly do- the alternative will be very deadly to the whole world, but I am afraid he is not up to the task, as I have thought all along.

Our Resident likes to quote Lincoln, but the President he should look to now might be Teddy Roosevelt-

“Talk softly- but carry a big stick.”

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Tags: appeasement, Iran, nukes, Obama, war