Linkage

In an interview two months ago with Raw Story, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter raged against the neocons as godless parasites whose only gift is for destruction. He argued that the mission of Bush appointees--Rice at the State Department, Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank--is to undermine and subvert the very institutions they run to render them ineffectual and incapable of resistance. And Bolton as the U.S.'s UN representative? Same deal. "A high level source, a NeoCon at that, within the system has said to me directly that John Bolton's job is to destroy the UN..." [...] "My reliable sources tell me it is because there is a timetable that makes it urgent for Bolton to be ready for action in June in order to cripple the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) as part of the plan to bomb the Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr. That's because Bushehr, under construction with Russian supervision, will soon be ready to receive the Russian fissionable material enabling it to produce power... "On a recent, quite incredible Fox News special, Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said we are already moving aircraft carriers into positions from which we could strike. He was then asked: 'If you had to put a percentage on it, the chances that the U.S. will eventually have to take military actions against Iran, what would you put it at?' to which McInerney replied casually: 'Well, I would put 1 percent of using ground forces, boots on the ground in Iran, I would put up 50 percent on a blockade, and I would put up 50 to 60 percent on precision air strikes on their nuclear development sites.' He also observed casually that Iran wouldn't dare take on the United States. Perhaps the 60 million Iranians would greet our bombers with garlands and sweets. Do you see what I mean? Fox News, as you may know, is commonly known as 'The War Channel,' for similar work it did in promoting the war against Iraq.

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Tomgram: Dilip Hiro on the Iran Nuclear Crisis

The European negotiators seem aware of the dire consequences of military arracks on Iran by Israel or the United States. Until now, they seemingly wanted to keep the talks simmering along, hoping that a pragmatic winner in the presidential election on June 17 could open the way for accommodation on the issue. "Pragmatic" is their code word for Ali Akbar Hashemi Rasfanjani, a wily politician who, along with Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, is now the only surviving member of the top leadership that was instrumental in bringing about the Islamic revolution in 1979. The Iranians do not seem unduly worried that the emergency meeting of the IAEA governors will postpone the discussion of the Europeans' complaint to their regular quarterly meeting, due to take place just a few days before the Iranian presidential election. Even if the issue is referred to the UN Security Council, there is a very strong chance that China and Russia will veto any resolution imposing sanctions on Iran. Overall, The Iranians feel that this issue, if pushed into the international arena, will cause a global divide between the developing world and the Western world. It may be that they are overestimating, but there is no doubt that this is an issue of paramount importance in international affairs.

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