Iran builds nukes but Israel the threat

From Arab News comes one of those stories that the cognitive dissonance crowd will have no trouble agreeing with but those of us who have even a modicum of common sense will understand to be a diversionary tactic.

VIENNA, 9 March 2007 — Iran branded Israel “a uniquely grave threat” to world peace because of its alleged nuclear weapons yesterday after the UN atomic agency sharply cut aid to Tehran because of its own atomic program.

Same old, same old. When caught doing something wrong simply blame Israel and you're off the hook.

“Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Israeli regime with.. a long and dark catalogue of crimes and atrocity such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state terrorism, crimes against humanity and apartheid pose a uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security,” Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In the Arab world, particularly, they have a real problem with truth. Part of it is cultural although a lot of it is the fact that they've been subjected to anti-Israel propaganda for the best part of sixty years. The quote above describing Israel as having "...a long and dark catalogue of crimes and atrocity such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state terrorism, crimes against humanity and apartheid..." could come from your normal DailyKos or Huffington Post contributor and, thanks to the worst President ever, Jimmy Carter, they've now added 'apartheid' to Israel's list of crimes. Any sound analysis of Iran will see that the above quote applies much more accurately to it than to Israel, especially in light of the Iranian regime's stated aim of wiping Israel off the map.

Our friends the Russians and Chinese

To show what terrific friends Russia and China are to those countries trying to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear state, they've raised objections to nearly every Western proposal for sanctions on Iran except a ban on arms exports but including travel bans, financial and trade restrictions and the freezing of assets of key individuals and companies.

If you aren't up to date with the reality of Iran's nuclear program then I recommend Kenneth Timmerman's Countdown To Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran.

The key to dealing with Iran is to work with the vast opposition within the country to end the Mullah's rule and bring about a peaceful transition to a form of government more consistent with Iran's history. That could be done with a Radio Free Iran, sponsoring internal groups (in the same way as was done in Poland) and, yes, by imposing travel, financial and trade restrictions.