25 countries tell Iran to mothball nuke program

[TomCADem]

Source: Associated Press

VIENNA - The U.N. nuclear agency's board censured Iran on Friday, with 25 nations backing a resolution that demands Tehran immediately mothball its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on it to stop uranium enrichment.

Iran remained defiant, with its chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency declaring that his country would resist "pressure, resolutions, sanction(s) and threat of military attack."

The resolution — and the resulting vote of the IAEA's 35-nation decision-making board — were significant on several counts.

The resolution was endorsed by six world powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — reflecting a rare measure of unity on Iran. Moscow and Beijing have acted as a traditional drag on efforts to punish Iran for its nuclear defiance, either preventing new Security Council sanctions or watering down their potency.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34170960/ns/world_news-mide... /

---

Oddly, the neocons were celebrating the failure of diplomacy in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Indeed, one article begins "John Bolton was right!" It is surprising to see this level of cooperation. The question is whether all this diplomacy is effective.

[LakeSamish706]

1. I guess my problem still is... Why is Israel allowed to have nukes, but not Iran? hmmm n/t

[SidDithers]

2. Or even, why are the US, Britain, France, China and Russia...

India and Pakistan allowed to have nukes, but not Iran.

Sid

[Jim Sagle]

3. Because none of those countries have threatened to wipe another nation off the map?

[LakeSamish706]

4. Personally, I don't think anyone should have nukes... But I still have a problem with...

rules that differ, depending on who you are. It's sort of like the fact that we people in our own country being charged with crimes while big time law breakers (like Bush/Cheney et all) walk free among us.

[RedCloud]

7. You mean like the Cherokee Nation?

[The Stranger]

10. "The Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches to light the oil."

Who said that? I'll give you three guesses.

[AverageJoe5]

11. Iran has never threatened to wipe any country off the map

It's a myth that Ahmadinejad allegedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map. He never said that. What he actually said was translated incorrectly.

Perhaps it's the U.S. that shouldn't be "allowed" to have nuclear weapons .... because the U.S. is the only country that has actually used nuclear weapons.

[Jim Sagle]

18. Translated incorrectly...riiiiiiiiight.

[Flaneur]

28. That's right. Ahmadinajad PREDICTED that Israel would be destroyed.

He didn't offer to do it. But keep beating those Zionist war drums.

[Jim Sagle]

33. I'm not pro-war. Neither am I pro-lie. And I don't believe the denials.

[Igel]

27. I usually defer to Iranians on this one.

When you see a military parade with Ahmedinejad's utterance on a banner draped over an intermediate range missile, with the English on the obverse, it gives you pause. But perhaps not. They are, after all, military. They're also renowned for being a bit doltish.

However, the picture was printed in a couple of prominent Iranian newspaper. Then again, the entire "mistranslation" problem occurred because of Iranian Press Agency staffers not understanding Persian. You'd think that they'd understand Persian and could be trusted. Given the understanding American newspaper folk demonstrated with their "stay the course" confusion, perhaps not.

I mean, relying on the military and the press for understanding their own language--dubious, at best. Certainly not the sharpest tools in the shed, any of them.

But then when you see another banner, with the same Persian and English on it, being paraded about by a bunch of university students, you might pause. No, then again, I guess university students--and the professors that would correct them--are also idiots.

Military, the press, and college students, graduates, and professors. Idiots, every one.

I mean, I guess that a non-native speaker of Persian is guaranteed to be right in his translation and interpretation, even if the Iranian press, the Iranian military, and the Iranian educational establishment hasn't a clue.

But wait a minute--isn't the source of the "this is a mistranslation" himself a college professor? Gee, now I'm really confused.

Is this entire debate because we're talking about Iranians, who apparently must be made out to be too stupid to be able to brush their own teeth, or just because it's so important for self-serving domestic political purposes that we fervently believe something that can only entail that large segments of Iranian society is staffed entirely by idiots?

[ShortnFiery]

15. But when was the last time Iran invaded another nation in modern history?

Besides this tired old meme of "wiping Isreal off of the map" is contested in translation. Even if I give you that the NOT all powerful Amed-a-dinnerjacket said exactly that, he is not "the command and control" section of Iranian leadership.

[David__77]

34. Only ONE country has used nuclear weapons, killing many, many civilians.

That country is not Iran - it is the United States.

[LeftishBrit]

35. Russia and America certainly did a bit of that sort of threatening against each other

Khrushchev famously told America 'we will bury you'. St Ronnie is noted for saying as a 'joke', when he thought the mike was off, 'I have signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes.'

Right at the moment, there are groups in all these countries, especially Pakistan , whom I would not want to see anywhere near nukes.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. Israel has been the US forward base for decades, US oil is under Iran's soil

.
.
.

USA's obsession with the ME is about OIL

it's that simple IMO

[Jim Sagle]

9. Quite true.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. NPT. Look it up.

[proteus_lives]

13. If they don't, what's to stop the Arab nations from attempting to wipe-out Israel again?

[ShortnFiery]

16. Yes, the Arab nations are STUPID and wouldn't consider that we'd rein hell-fire to them if tried.

[Kurska]

20. 1967, 1973 have any meaning to you? n/t

[proteus_lives]

21. I doubt that 1948, 1967 or 1973 have any meaning to her.

[Behind the Aegis]

23. It does.

It was a "FAIL" to destroy Israel.

[proteus_lives]

24. If they had...

She would have considered it "DoublePlusGood".

[Behind the Aegis]

25. Oh, I am sure we would be treated to some picture.

She would wail and cry about the "horror," then blame Israel. Somethings never change.

[boppers]

30. Interesting year choices.

1947 was when Israel was established, 1948, 1967 and 1973 are all years when they went to war with neighbors, and thus managed to "annex" (which is an illegal land grab) twice their size in territory....

Turns out that "they tried to wipe us off the map!" wars are pretty convenient ways of expanding the state, under the cover of security.

That could just be a total coincidence, though.

[proteus_lives]

32. I see you believe propaganda over the truth.

1948: They were attacked by five Arab countries the day after they declared independence.

1967: 3 countries massed troops on their borders, blocked their access to the Red Sea and expelled UN peacekeepers.

1973: Two countries attacked them during Yom Kippur, their holiest day.

What makes you mad about these dates? That Israel defeated those that wished to destroy them?

Those evil, evil Israelis. Where do they get off defending themselves?

[proteus_lives]

22. We didn't before.

Yeah, we give the Israelis weapons and money but if the Arab armies cross the border, Israel is on its own.

[Kurska]

14. NNPT Israel didn't sign it, neither did India or Pakistan.

North Korea did and withdrew, but alot of people consider it a "When you're in you're in" club that you can't just withdraw from.

[FarCenter]

26. there is a specific procedure for giving notice and then withdrawing from the NNPT

[BeFree]

5. Obama's fault!!

Gawd, he's got the UN even working with us, instead of against us.

Geez, what's next?

[cowcommander]

12. THIS

Cut him some slack, Obama is working for a goddamn DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION WITH THE SUPPORT OF MANY COUNTRIES, PEOPLE! Remember the other guy running last year whose solution for Iran was BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN?!

[ShortnFiery]

17. OMG! Not every damn issue we discuss here has to come down to President Obama's reputation.

[BREMPRO]

19. sarcasm alert for previous poster- seems we are so used to Obama bashing now it's easy to miss.

this was a major Obama team diplomatic coup to get russia and china to vote against Iran. Never would have happened without the previous efforts at building a coalition and the brilliantly timed move to out Iran for it's undisclosed enrichment site.

[Flaneur]

29. About 210 countries don't tell Iran to mothball nuke program. n/t

[JonQ]

31. Unless one of those countries is Iran this is irrelevant

or unless all 25 are willing to back serious action this is irrelevant.

Getting everyone to agree that Iran having nukes is a a bad thing is a far cry from stopping them from having nukes.