Kofi Is Snubbed, Handed His Hat, And Shown The Door
That's basically what the USA Today is reporting regarding Kofi Annan's trip to Iran this weekend. Kofi journeyed there in an attempt to get Ahmadinejad to lower his rhetoric over Holocaust denials and to stop their uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad's response was a smile and a handshake for a photo, then an emphatic "no."
The U.N. chief got little satisfaction Sunday at the close of his trip to Tehran, snubbed by Iran's leader over international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored in warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust.
In a provocative move on the final day of Kofi Annan's two-day visit, Iran announced it would host a conference to examine what it called exaggerations about the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.
The move was sure to draw new international condemnation of Iran's stance on Jews. Hours after the announcement, Annan repeated his displeasure over an exhibition in Tehran of cartoons mocking the Holocaust that was opened as a response to Western caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
"I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and ensure it is never repeated," Annan told reporters.
He commented after a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the hard-line Iranian leader didn't accompany the U.N. chief to the news conference. ...
... "On the nuclear issue, the president reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate" a solution to the nuclear confrontation, Annan said at the news conference.
However, Ahmadinejad "reiterated that he did not accept suspension before negotiations," the U.N. chief said, conveying Iran's rejection of a condition set by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany.
Jinkies, boys and girls, what's Kofi's next move now that "failure" has become a part of his lexicon? Will the UN issue more worthless resolutions and sanctions? Will they even try, or will Russia and China thumb their noses at their supposed allies, and issue a veto against those sanctions. Somebody there had better come up with a plan quickly before Ahmadinejad laughs himself to death over this. After all, the EU is willing to give Iran more time but we should have guessed that would happen. Europe is not the same as it was in World War II, and most European leaders would just as soon sweep this under the rug before they take any sort of hard stance. Whether the EU gives Iran two days or two weeks (they've given them two weeks) Ahmadinejad will never give up his enrichment program. And it's nutters like Kofi Annan that don't seem to get this.
He can't control the other nations in the UN. They are doing whatever they feel like. There's no cohesion between the five permanent members, or even the elected members of the UNSC, so I fail to see how Kofi is going to pull his bacon out of this one. He has a radical Islamic nation enrihing uranium, more than likely for a nuclear weapon, and all he can do is smile and wave to the cameras as Ahmadinejad snubs him.
We have been pushing for sanctions since Iran announced it's ability to enrich uranium. Our allies aren't all in the same boat on this issue. More than a couple believe that Iran should have nuclear power, and two specifically want them to continue enrichming their uranium. This is a situation that is slowly spiralling out of control. The conditions to begin negotiations are that Iran stop its enrichment. It if doesn't, we're going to keep saying "no" to negotiations.
Publius II
That's basically what the USA Today is reporting regarding Kofi Annan's trip to Iran this weekend. Kofi journeyed there in an attempt to get Ahmadinejad to lower his rhetoric over Holocaust denials and to stop their uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad's response was a smile and a handshake for a photo, then an emphatic "no."
The U.N. chief got little satisfaction Sunday at the close of his trip to Tehran, snubbed by Iran's leader over international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored in warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust.
In a provocative move on the final day of Kofi Annan's two-day visit, Iran announced it would host a conference to examine what it called exaggerations about the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.
The move was sure to draw new international condemnation of Iran's stance on Jews. Hours after the announcement, Annan repeated his displeasure over an exhibition in Tehran of cartoons mocking the Holocaust that was opened as a response to Western caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
"I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and ensure it is never repeated," Annan told reporters.
He commented after a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the hard-line Iranian leader didn't accompany the U.N. chief to the news conference. ...
... "On the nuclear issue, the president reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate" a solution to the nuclear confrontation, Annan said at the news conference.
However, Ahmadinejad "reiterated that he did not accept suspension before negotiations," the U.N. chief said, conveying Iran's rejection of a condition set by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany.
Jinkies, boys and girls, what's Kofi's next move now that "failure" has become a part of his lexicon? Will the UN issue more worthless resolutions and sanctions? Will they even try, or will Russia and China thumb their noses at their supposed allies, and issue a veto against those sanctions. Somebody there had better come up with a plan quickly before Ahmadinejad laughs himself to death over this. After all, the EU is willing to give Iran more time but we should have guessed that would happen. Europe is not the same as it was in World War II, and most European leaders would just as soon sweep this under the rug before they take any sort of hard stance. Whether the EU gives Iran two days or two weeks (they've given them two weeks) Ahmadinejad will never give up his enrichment program. And it's nutters like Kofi Annan that don't seem to get this.
He can't control the other nations in the UN. They are doing whatever they feel like. There's no cohesion between the five permanent members, or even the elected members of the UNSC, so I fail to see how Kofi is going to pull his bacon out of this one. He has a radical Islamic nation enrihing uranium, more than likely for a nuclear weapon, and all he can do is smile and wave to the cameras as Ahmadinejad snubs him.
We have been pushing for sanctions since Iran announced it's ability to enrich uranium. Our allies aren't all in the same boat on this issue. More than a couple believe that Iran should have nuclear power, and two specifically want them to continue enrichming their uranium. This is a situation that is slowly spiralling out of control. The conditions to begin negotiations are that Iran stop its enrichment. It if doesn't, we're going to keep saying "no" to negotiations.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:31 AM
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