Friday October 2, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

The meeting between the 5 plus 1 and Iran ended without fireworks.
The group agreed to meet again.

The most important element to emerge from this meeting is that Iran got a better understanding that the West wants to talk - and not to use the military option.

Iran understands that there still exists the strong possibility of greater sanctions. Iran also believes that they can withstand these sanctions because the gasoline they so badly crave has already been promised by China and Venezuela.

Iran suggested the transfer of uranium to a third party for enrichment for their medical reactor at Teheran University. This was a suggestion originally put forth by George Bush.

In this discussion, Iran came out the great victor.
They spoke about world issues of nuclear development.
They emphasized how important it was for people to live up to international agreements.
They said that they have the right to develop nuclear technology.
The 6 retorted that that is exactly what they expected of Iran, and Iran said of course.

The head of the IAEA will visit Iran this weekend to see the newly publicized sites. The Iranians say they informed the IAEA about these new sites last year.

No party made any real headway.
But Iran achieved greater political advantage in the meeting because they were elevated to a party with standing. They were face to face equal footing with the United States and the West.
What we have here "is a failure to communicate."

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