Obama, Brown, Sarkozy Issue Strong Statement to Tehran

Obama’s new friend, Hugo Chavez, is not going to like the harsh words about Ahmadinejad.
Will Chavez start smelling sulfur again?

I guess Iran must be really scared now after this strong speech….right??

A serious question for somebody to ask and investigate: Did the administration include this in their calculations when they canceled those Eastern European missile sites just the other day?
Part of the rationale was that Iran wasn’t that far along in its nuclear program, wasn’t it?

Mr. Obama, it’s 3 AM.
Please pick up the phone.

Oh my! They issued a “strong statement.”
Neville Chamberlain gives a big thumbs up from beyond the grave.

Just strut, smile and put on your
big smiley face and all will be good
in the world. NOT.

“Peace in the middle-east” will only come after we and Israel have wiped out all muslims in that land… or they have wiped us out.

WOW…. another strong statement. What President said “speak softly but carry a big stick”? Instead, we have the current President… Speak loudly but carry a wet noodle… Way to go!!!

You kind of have to expect this from Iran. Inspectors should be let in to check things out. Inspectors should also check out all US, french and british nuclear weapon facilities as well.

The mere fact that our President believes that this is something new just demonstrates what a dope he is. This has only been talked to death for about for the last 10 years.
***
And you seriously think the President and National Security Advisor and Council doesn’t know how long it’s been talked about? You think he doesn’t know more about it than you do? Good grief, folks. Try to follow along if you’re going to make phoney baloney comments and enage in partisan chest-pounding.
“American officials said that they had been tracking the covert project for years, but that Mr. Obama decided to make public the American findings after Iran discovered, in recent weeks, that Western intelligence agencies had breached the secrecy surrounding the project.” (NYT– and similar statements are available in nearly every news story on the announcement).

Hmm… one could expect the same story if Bush was in office.
IF China and Russia step-up to the plate, then their will probably be kudos from conservatives. At this point, I doubt if I will ever be convinced that making our allies vulnerable to being ground under the wheels Chinese and Russian aspirations is moral or valid. Obama is dangerously disabused by his ideology into ignoring history and the nature of mankind.

Boy, I’m starting to wonder if this country is not really, really bound to doom. I mean, liberals, however smart they are, don’t seem to follow politics that much. If the lemmings here who only pack to Fox News and other like minded propaganda machines are the only ones representing the political mass, we’re finished. I pray to God these people don’t represent the majority, but I’m afraid I may be wrong. The next thing you they get out in droves and vote in people who are as radical as they are. Radicalism wouldn’t hurt as much as the stupidity they spew. I mean, if these people are in position to control weapons of mass destruction, aren’t we finished? God help us all!

Sheesh, we handed him our Eastern European missile shield on a silver platter and Medvedev couldn’t even join us in a lousy public statement?

Okay, so I know many of those who comment here are motivated by partisanship, ideology and/or a dislike and distrust of this President to connect the dots in a derogatory way, BUT as SjB says, “if Russia and China step up to the plate…”
A few things to keep in mind. Again, this time from the AP:
“the U.S. has known of the facility’s existence “for several years,” a senior White House official said. Obama decided to go public with the revelation after Iran learned that Western intelligence agencies were aware of the project, officials said. ”
From NYT: “American officials said they expected the announcement to make it easier to build a case for international sanctions if Iran blocked inspectors or refused to halt its nuclear program….Mr. Obama spent much of his time in New York pressing the case, particularly to Russia and China, for sterner Security Council measures to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions….Mr. Obama was first briefed on Iran’s project before he became president…In advance of Friday morning’s announcement, Mr. Obama sent top intelligence officials to brief the atomic agency’s chief inspector, Olli Heinonen. Other American diplomats and intelligence officials shared their findings with China, Russia and Germany, all important players in the negotiations with Iran….During his meeting with Mr. Medvedev in particular, Mr. Obama pressed his case, expressing pessimism that talks scheduled for next week with the Iranians over the nuclear issue would yield much progress, administration officials said…Mr. Obama had, by that point, made a giant step toward getting Russia more amenable to the idea of sanctions against Iran — something Moscow does not like — by announcing last week that he was replacing President George W. Bush’s missile defense with a version less threatening to Moscow. That issue, one administration official said, completely changed the dynamic during Mr. Obama’s meeting with Mr. Medvedev…Mr. Obama is planning to visit Beijing and Shanghai in early November, just around the same time that a sanctions resolution is expected to be introduced at the Security Council.”
In all that context, perhaps the scolding the UN to act is seen in a new light– and the need for a more flexible missile shield sooner.
I also think it was a good idea to make the announcement with leaders of ally nations, and to not sound the most hawkish, despite pressure behind the scenes.
Obama has a strong national security council. This isn’t how Bush and company would have handled it– and it’s not naive, either. The timing is actually very interesting.

@ Alyson -
If you want your posts to be considered seriously, you’ll probably want to omit references to NY Times…

deja vu all over again.

So, what was your point?
**
I had a few points — one was that Obama has been briefed and aware of this for a long time, as has the US government, so the contention that he is naive and doesn’t get it and was somehow taken by surprise is misguided. My point was that there’s been a method underlying all of this, and in addition to courting Russia and China, he’s been pressuring the UN to act, and other countries to carry a big stick for once– France talked tough– it wasn’t just America talking tough, it was a fresh angle. We’ve talked tough so much it’s become the same old same old. In addition, quite a few things at this meeting have been timed in an interesting fashion and those who are digging into partisanship and ideology to connect the dots a certain way, bringing up Carter and such, seem to me to be missing the point entirely, missing more subtle moves in the intricate chess game.IF Russia and China step up, it will have been worth it. If they don’t, they will be exposed. A lot of pressure points are being pushed. Lastly, I posted a long post because the comments on here and the other thread indicate that the majority of the folks commenting haven’t read up on the story, or they just want to chest-pound, name call and sound both stupid and unwilling to grapple with the various pieces of the puzzle– imho. Although, we all know I don’t think much of the neocon, pro-military-industrial complex mindset which screeches at subtlety– again, imho.

Another interesting tidbit that I share despite all the baloney about me– bygones, I can handle it. I kickbox and do a bit of dirty fighting myself. Anyway, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to give a press conference at the United Nations at 5.m. today. The event has been canceled.
And for another piece on the strategy of this morning, you can check out Mark Lynch at Foreign Policy. The last pararaph made me laugh, because he’s got the wingnuts pegged–
“So despite what I expect to see swarming the media in the next few days — wanna bet that John Bolton or John Bolton-equivalent oped is already in production over at the Washington Times [or] Washington Post (sorry, it’s hard to tell the difference on foreign policy issues sometimes) — I actually think that this public revelation makes war less rather than more likely. The timing of the announcement, immediately following the consultations at the UN and the G-20 and just before the Geneva meetings, makes it seem extremely likely that the Obama administration has been waiting for just the right moment to play this card. Now they have. It strengthens the P5+1 bargaining position ahead of October 1, changes Iranian calculations, and lays the foundations for a more serious kind of engagement. So now let’s see how it changes the game. “

It’s all sort of like the SNL skit where Mohamed ElBaradei claims that he will “write them a “stern letter” if the don’t comply”.

It didn’t work. Russia is just as upset…
Posted by: lfrichar | Sep 25, 2009 10:51:38 AM
Forgot to say that I don’t think we know that yet. Though Russia is a game player, and tends to go back and forth, there are hints that there is a possibility for break through here on sanctions. I’m not claiming it’s a done deal — and I’m sure you and others will think of me as naive for being hopeful but officials have said there’s been a shift in the dynamic, so we’ll see. To me it seems Russia is more likely to join us in sanctions than China.

Tyler,
Get a clue! Every G-8 (now G-20) summit has been protested by anarchists for years. Their beef is more with the world bank and the global capitalistic structure.

‘It’s all sort of like the SNL skit where Mohamed ElBaradei claims that he will “write them a “stern letter” if the don’t comply”.’
Or sort of like “The Life of Brian” when the People’s Front of Judea, upon learning that Brian has been taken away by Roman centurions, decide to have an emergency meeting to draft a letter of protest (RIGHT! This calls for a meeting!!).

It was a pivotal moment in the presidential campaign, Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn
yes, the campaign that booted republicans out all over america…… get over it…… or go look for more birth certificates

I love it how the comments that don’t express admiration for the POTUS’actions stay up for a few minutes and then are suddenly removed from this site.
And the network’s wonder why they are losing viewership/readership. Oh well… ideology is more important than money.
repeat after me: I love the POTUS, I respect the POTUS, I serve the POTUS.

Peace in the middle-east” will only come after we and Israel have wiped out all muslims in that land… or they have wiped us out.
Posted by: knowerseeker | Sep 25, 2009 10:03:36 AM
This is absolutly appalling! How ignorant can one person be?? Do you know how many INNOCENT People there are over there? Just because a country’s leader is a stupid dumb-head doesn’t mean all the people IN the country are?? What is wrong with you people?!!???

comrade GOP:”Or sort of like “The Life of Brian”
Posted by: Woody
republicans are just like the followers of ‘the shoe’”
Nah, Republicans are more like the Romans. Democrats are definitely like the PFJ.
Reg: All right… all right… but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order… what have the Romans done for us?
Xerxes: Brought peace!

Sarkozy doesn’t have much confidence in Obama, either — His words:
“We say: reductions must be made. And President Obama has even said, “I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].” Yet before our very eyes, two countries are currently doing the exact opposite. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council resolutions. Since 2005, Secretary-General, the international community has called on Iran to engage in dialogue. An offer of dialogue was made in 2005, an offer of dialogue was made in 2006, an offer of dialogue was made in 2007, an offer of dialogue was made in 2008, and another one was made in 2009. President Obama, I support the Americans’ outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing. More enriched uranium, more centrifuges, and on top of that, a statement by Iranian leaders proposing to wipe a UN member State off the map.”
Obama is living in a dream world and Sarkozy knows it. (So does Bush).