1/12    Iran all of a sudden says they want to talk now
        http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/12/D8F3BVG01.html
        \_ Talk about a play right out of the North Korean handbook.
           \_ True, but all the major players are at a consensus that they
              don't want Iran to have The Bomb, and are also in a position
              to actually punish Iran with economic sanctions -- unlike
              N. Korea, which is already isolated anyway so that the effect
              of sanctions would be diminished, and was a whole big mess
              with S. Korea and China not on the same page as the U.S.
              And you know what?  I credit international diplomacy.
                \_ You credit diplomacy with accomplishing what?
              The EU3 played a role because they want to negotiate first.
              The U.S. played a role because they pushed the EU3 to put
              teeth and a real stick into the negotiations along with the
              carrots.  They moderated each other.
              The IAEA is playing a role because their inspectors are actually
              there, monitoring critical equipment.
              Russia, China, and Annan are playing roles by acting as
              Iran's good buddies, telling Iran that they won't stop the West
              from imposing sanctions (which opens the door to other things),
              until they finally realize they can't play this game anymore.
              This game is playing out as best as it could, IMO.
              \_ oohhh, like good cop/bad cop?
                 \_ Yeah, Russia/China/Annan = good cop ; U.S.+EU3 = bad cop
                    The U.S. needed to infect the EU3 in order for them to
                    become the bad cop.
                    \_ Perhaps I'm an idiot, but what does the 3 in EU3
                       stand for?
                       \_ UK, Germany, France
              \_ Iran supplies close to 20% of China's oil need.  I am not
                 sure China is playing good cop, or is that China is simply
                 don't want to mess around with its main oil supplier (similar
                 to US would never mess with Saudis).  Further, IAEA and EU and
                 USA all have credibility problem.  If IAEA/EU/USA allow
                 India/Pakistan/Israel/N.Korea to have the bomb, why can't
                 Iran join the club?
                 \_ This is a stupid question, I hope you see why.
                    \_ no, I don't.
                       \_ Well, first off, IAEA/EU/USA didn't "allow" any
                          of those countries to get the bomb (except MAYBE
                          Israel, but I'm not even sure they "officially"
                          have the bomb, although they obviously have had
                          it for > 20 years).  Those counties got the bomb
                          secretly.  Can you honestly say the US
                          "allowed" NK to get the bomb?  Those are all
                          considered failures of the anti-nuclear
                          proliferation programs.
                          Furthermore, we don't like Iran, and we don't
                          trust them.  It's perfectly reasonable to try to
                          stop them from getting the bomb.  Sure, that's a
                          subjective measurement, but so is everything.
                          Whether 9/11 was good or bad is also subjective.
              \_ You credit diplomacy with accomplishing what?
                 \_ "This game is playing out as best as it could, IMO."
                 \_ "Our job is to form a common consensus.  This is what's
                    called diplomacy." -GW Bush, Genius (Jan 13, 2006)
                    \_ So the success here was getting the EU to go along with
                       the idea that being in range of Iranian nukes is a bad
                       situation?  In the meantime, they've broken the seals,
                       and restarted (if they ever stopped) working on a nuke.
                       Yay diplomacy!