Which is worse? Ahmadinejad claiming his Islamic regime is developing nuclear isotopes to “treat cancer” or EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton spearheading the P5+1 engagement team trying to negotiate a solution with Iran? For those following the issues closely, choosing between these two presents a real dilemma. Those who know Iran’s history of calling Israel a cancer that has to be eradicated would naturally pick Iran though the lines become blurred faced with Catherine Ashton’s paltry political experience and her utter failure to be impartial when it comes to Israel.
Just today, The Hill’s blog post indicated Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was pessimistic at best regarding the ability of the P5+1 engagement team to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. To that end, the blog post quoted Barak:
“The P5+1 engagement with Iran, however, does not fill me with confidence,” he said. “I may sound pessimistic, but the state of Israel cannot afford to be duped.”
Somehow, world powers have forgotten that Israel is a sovereign nation, which has a responsibility to protect its citizens from potential nuclear threats. The United States doesn’t ask for permission to go to war and neither should we expect Israel to wait while Iran has more time to continue developing their nuclear capabilities.
We can’t deny Iran was tossed a “freebie” when the P5+1 engagement group began courting it with nuclear talks. After all, China and Russia are supporters of Iran and have yet to denounce the violence in Syria because of their oil trade with Iran – Syria’s primary benefactor. Ashton’s record is not exactly pro-Israel. And while these talks are occurring, Iran’s nuclear program continues full-steam ahead.
To sum up what Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said recently in a CNN interview:
“I can tell you the centrifuges are spinning. They were spinning before the talks began recently with Iran. They were spinning during the talks. They are spinning as we speak,”
Let’s hope the P5+1 group doesn’t ultimately monitor Iran’s nuclear program the same way the UN is monitoring Syria’s killing regime.
