By now, I’m sure the Bush administration - and especially Vice-President Dick Cheney, are huddled in meetings, discussing Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, and how his unexpected visit to Iran has complicated their plans to deal with Iran. The White House is still stating that “all options are on the table”, including military intervention if Iran doesn’t comply with IAEE guidelines - however, now that Putin has made an unprecedented visit to Iran and reasserted Russia’s tacit support of Iran, America’s war planners and Israel now face even more obstacles in finalizing any scenario that involves alleged plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear and military facilities.
What isn’t mentioned in our Mainstream News Media is that the French predicted that an attack could come as early as October the 15th LINK, and it’s extremely coincidental that President Putin chose this specific time frame to visit Iran and warn that “any use of military force in the Caspian region was unacceptable, amid some speculation that the United States might be tempted to use military force against Iran if sanctions failed to persuade it to rein in its suspected nuclear ambitions.” MORE
According to CNN, Russia’s President Putin has stated that Iran Nuclear plans are peaceful:
Putin: Iran nuke plans ‘peaceful’
* Russian President Putin backs Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear program during visit
* Putin in Tehran to attend summit of Caspian Sea nations to discuss oil rights
* Iran, Russia set to discuss Iranian nuclear program, U.S. push for sanctions
* Putin downplay rumors of assassination plot; Iran says claims are “baseless”TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran should be allowed to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday during the first visit to the country by a Kremlin leader since 1943.
Putin, who is in Tehran to attend a summit of Caspian Sea nations, said that he and the other leaders agreed that “peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed” in the region.
“The Iranians are cooperating with Russian nuclear agencies and the main objectives are peaceful objectives,” he said.
Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power plant and has resisted moves by the U.S. and its allies to impose stronger U.N. sanctions against Tehran.
On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the Bush administration’s stance that “all options” must be kept “on the table” in confronting the threats posed by Iran — a reference to the option of using military action against the long-time U.S. adversary. MORE
There is some wording in Putin’s statement that is somewhat ambiguous, and it’s those nuances that Bush and Cheney are apt to be examining closely. President Vladimir Putin did not state that all of Iran’s nuclear ambitions were peaceful, and in the event it’s later proven he was wrong, Putin left himself an “out” if his presumptions turn out to be wrong. Please note that when Putin stated that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were peaceful, his wording left wriggle room if matters take a turn for the worse:
“The Iranians are cooperating with Russian nuclear agencies and the main objectives are peaceful objectives,” he said. (Emphasis added)
That statement alone automatically raises the question of what other objectives Iran may be considering with its nuclear program, and Putin was clear when he stated their “main objectives” were peaceful; are there other, less important “objectives” involved in Iran’s nuclear program as far as Vladimir Putin is concerned? I won’t discount the possibility that Russia may consider a nuclear armed Iran as an acceptable trade-off for the huge nuclear and military contracts Russia has entered into with Iran, and realistically, Iran does possess a certain nuclear capability now, even if they don’t have a working nuclear warhead.
With Iran’s uranium enrichment program in full-swing, any of their Shahab III ballistic missiles, or their new Shahab IV could have their warheads modified to include highly enriched uranium - which would effectively give Iran the ability to launch multiple “dirty bombs” throughout the Middle-East and some targets that are within their range in Europe, although from a practical standpoint, even in a conflict, such an action would be highly unlikely. (IMHO)
It was Bush and Cheney that bungled our relations with Russia, and now that Russia, who was once an American ally - has sided with Iran in this nuclear stand-off, the stakes of attacking Iran grow extremely more dangerous than they were just a few short months ago. It appears that Bush’s “Cowboy Diplomacy” has brought us nothing but grief, and now to help circumvent the start of World War III, the Russians have solidly aligned themselves with Iran - hopefully shuttering any plans by the Bush administration or Israel to strike Iran before diplomacy has a chance to prevail. (Not Bush’s brand of diplomacy, but honest attempts to diffuse a situation that could cause the Middle-East to fall into utter chaos.)
Finally, it is this writer’s opinion that we are now seeing the result and power of the Blogosphere! The article Attack On Iran Slated For October 15th, Prepare For Disaster literally traveled around the world in a matter of days as several others did, and our efforts were joined by other Bloggers in Europe, the United States and the Middle-East, who reproduced several articles and disseminated important data and reports that many in Europe and the Middle-East were unaware of, and therefore unable to effectively address in a manner that could help to forestall war with Iran. Now that the war planning of Israel and the United States have been effectively unmasked internationally, it is the hope of many of us “left-wing” Bloggers that our efforts have somehow helped to stall any plans to attack Iran.
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