Oh, I Feel Much Safer Now

I wonder if people are really as clueless as they seem sometimes.

Vladimir Putin has decided that the Iranian nuclear program must be subjected to increased scrutiny to make sure that it doesn't become a threat to the world.

That's all well and fine. I'm in total agreement with the idea that there needs to be closer supervision of the Iranian nuke program. I'll even go out on a limb and say that the IAEA might even be an acceptable overseer (although I'm not real confident on that point).

But Russia is the country supplying everything to Iran here. They have, more than anyone else out there, some say in the Iranian nuke program.

So what are the Russians doing to ensure world safety? How are they using this influence?

They want a written agreement from Iran to return the spent fuel when their done with it. 10 years they get to play with it, refine it, do whatever they want with and all they have to do is to sign a piece of paper promising to send it back when they're done.

How must trust do you put in the "word" of an Iranian terrorist government? Would you be willing to bet your future on their "promise to behave?"

I wouldn't.

If this goes through, Iran will have the Bomb before a decade is up. When it comes time to return the fuel, some nutcase in Tehran may very well decide to send it back to Moscow on the tip of a missile.

How long before the concerns about missing fuel start to surface? Think it was scary when Russia was the only one losing nuclear waste? Wait until the Iranians, those paragons of peace in the Middle East, declare that they lost some. Wait until they announce that they have given a couple kilos of nuclear material to al-Qaida scientists to "study."

Giving Tehran a nuclear capability is like giving a drug addict free access to the police evidence rooms. Pretty soon all his friends will be there, everything will be gone and the neighborhood will be a more dangerous place.

Iran just puts it all on a larger scale. The weapons out on the street will be much more lethal. The neighborhood that they're terrorizing will be much, much larger. The concept is the same.

Putin won't stand up to this. Blair, Schroeder and Bush are going to hide behind the IAEA because they don't want to risk the political fallout for making a stand. Chirac, well he can't stand - he's too busy hiding from his own shadow (plus he has no spine).

Looks like once again, we will be forced to count on the Israelis to stand up and do what no one else will - the right thing. For all their faults and warts the Israelis have an uncanny sense of threats to their security. Give Iran the Bomb, first place to get nuked is Tel Aviv.

I hope that someone can stop the madness. Let Iran get the Bomb and we may have the Cold War all over again - this time without a halfway rational foe.

Oh, yeah. Amidst all the doom and gloom here I almost forgot. Read the article. It's actually pretty good. <sarcasm>Chirac provides some wonderful comedic relief at points </sarcasm>.