Show Down on Iran and Uranium Enrichment
Iran has shown no sign it will halt enrichment. The world's fourth largest oil exporter has shrugged off the threat of sanctions and said such a move would simply push oil prices up to intolerable levels for industrialized economies.
Oil dipped below $70 a barrel on Tuesday, but worries about the nuclear standoff have curbed selling. Ahmadinejad is not the highest authority in Iran but his comments chime with remarks by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say and who has insisted Iran will press ahead with its pursuit of nuclear technology. Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium under international treaty.
Western diplomats argue it only has that right if it proves its intentions are peaceful. Iran has said it is ready for immediate talks on its atomic plans but has refused to suspend enrichment before talks start, which was proposed in the package of uncentives offered by the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany. Russia and China, big trading partners of Iran who have veto powers in the U.N. Security Council, may oppose sanctions moves.
Seems like politics as usual at the United Nations. Big countries putting their own agendas first over work to resolve real issues. I am not painting Russia and China into a corner on this one the US is as bad as they are about protecting its own interests when it comes to the United Nations.
Sanctions, smanctions, they just aren't going to happen. Iran holds oil leverage over the entire world and over its main trade partners Russia, China, France, and Italy. So sanctions will never be agreed upon by the security council while Iran has buddies there trying to cozy up for a discount on their next big oil shipment.
Do I sound cynical, yes, I guess I do. I have been watching the UN very closely these last several months and what I see is an archaic system that is so seriously divided that inactivity is the modus operandi. Look, we still don't even have peace keepers on the ground in Lebanon! There is so much quarreling about how to implement that, who will go, how many will go, that I'm not sure that peace keepers will really even get to Lebanon.
So, I guess what I am saying is that I am not holding my breath for the United Nations to take a leadership role in the sanctions against Iran. I don't think that the US will be able to get anyone on the security council to agree for sanctions as they are so self involved either, so either our President is going to take matters into his own hands again, or we just sweep it under the rug.
Hey what's happening with North Korea? Wasn't the UN supposed to be doing something there too? Whoops, sorry, I wasn't supposed to look under that rug. Make room under there for the Iranian issue.
