Nothing Quite Like Morning Shakshuka
Iranian Ahmadinejad Loves ‘Engagement’
Diplomatic Dialog Program of Barack Obama
Gives Iran the joy of eating Persian Shakshuka
In celebration of his great victory over US & West!
Admadinejad now believes in an Islamic Santa Claus,
Who has put control over world opinion under his Tree.
November 1, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Shakshuka is a North African dish consisting of poached or fried eggs cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices (often including cumin, turmeric, and chillies), and usually served with pita bread.
Originally enjoyed by rulers of the Ottoman Empire, this dish later amassed its greatest popularity among the North African countries.
Shakshouka was then brought to Israel largely by Tunisian Jews after the mass exodus of Jews from Islamic-majority countries.
Begin Excerpt 1 from YNet News
Gigantic coup for Iran
Obama’s insistence on ‘engagement’ responsible above all for Iran’s recent triumph
Michael Hessel
The recent announcement of an agreement reached between Iran and the World Powers in Vienna amounts to nothing short of a gigantic coup for Iran, with the tacit approval of the Obama Administration.
After seven years of negotiations with the EU, three UN Security Council Resolutions, and most recently three weeks of discussions, the Iranians have agreed to have “most” of their acknowledged low-enriched uranium transferred to a third country for further processing and open up the recently discovered Qom facility for IAEA inspection.
This is all positive news, especially for the Iranians, who can now boast at having masterminded another negotiations victory against the West. Any urgency towards swift action on Iran has now been diffused, and Tehran can continue to flaunt UN Security Council Resolutions with impunity.
Iran is cooking up an age old Middle Eastern recipe for its discussions with the West, a Persian Shakshuka if you like, and its ingredients are amazingly simple: they will transfer the enriched uranium they admit to having to a third party, while they continue to enrich uranium secretly in facilities which they deny exist. Furthermore, under an “agreement in principle” the Iranian regime will allow inspectors into the facility in Qom but without specifying under which conditions.
The focus on Qom is in itself a coup for Iran. The French and Americans planned on announcing the facility’s existence to the world at a joint session in the UN General Assembly, but were beaten to the punch by the Iranians, who seemed to have gotten wind of the plan. By doing so, the Iranians once more illustrated their uncanny ability to control the substance, scope, and timing of discussions concerning their nuclear program. Furthermore, by focusing on the facility of their choice the Iranians were able to turn world attention away from its other facilities.
It is obvious by now that Qom is only a small part of a vast network
of clandestine enrichment facilities the Iranians have built and perfected over the years. The Iraqi experience has taught them that in this kind of business it is best not to keep all your eggs in one basket. By agreeing to enrich their “declared” uranium through a third party and “sacrificing” one facility for the good of the rest, the Iranians can continue their march towards the bomb with little interference. Meanwhile, any call for action against Iran has been diffused and the West is doing what it loves to do most – they are talking, and this they assure us, is a very important thing indeed.
Glowing personal victory
In fact, it is Obama’s insistence on “engagement” that is responsible above all for Iran’s recent turn of fate.
It was the Obama Administration, famed for its insistence on the application of International Law, which nudged the other parties to the talks to abandon any mention of the three UN Security Council Resolutions that demand Iran terminate its uranium enrichment program. Any mention of these resolutions is now off the table. The discussions themselves do not request a scaling down, let alone termination, of the nuclear program.
Obama’s courting of the Iranian Republic against all odds is also the reason why the US remained silent during the post-election violence in Iran. It is also why Obama personally intervened to insure that the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, which would impose sanctions on the exporting of fuel to Iran, would not pass in Congress.
Furthermore, Obama delivered President Ahmadinejad a glowing personal victory as a consequence of the talks. Until recently the most unpopular president since the 1979 revolution, Ahmadinejad has been much criticized by his detractors at home for his radical policies which they warned would wreck havoc on Iran. Now, however, he can argue quite persuasively that it was his radicalism that delivered the results.
Indeed, the talks prove that with this US Administration at least, it pays to be the bad guy. After all, no country would consider an attack while these talks continue. And continue they will, since they are designed to go on perpetually. Apparently, Iran’s foreign minister is already planning a summit of the World Powers with Ahmadinejad in 2011.
At this critical juncture, the world must ensure that in “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”(as the Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s decision states), President Obama does not end up championing the first Fundamentalist Islamic bomb.
Michael Hessel is a banker, and the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
Begin Excerpt 2 from DEBKAfie Special Report
As Iran-European gap widens over overseas enrichment, Ahmadinejad boasts: “We rule world opinion”
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
October 31, 2009, 1:22 PM (GMT+02:00)
Mounting opposition leaves only two leaders in favor of the UN-brokered plan for Iran to send most of its enriched uranium to Russia and France for further processing: US President Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who Friday praised the proposal “to have Iran withdraw its enriched uranium, or a good portion of it, outside Iran as a positive first step.” He commended the US president’s efforts to deal with Iran’s nuclear program
But Saturday, European leaders struck the opposite note. In Vienna, European officials called the new Iranian ultimatum for a balance between sending uranium abroad and receiving a fresh supply as “unacceptable.”
In Brussels, European leaders began drafting a communiqué expressing “grave concern” over Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities and persistent failure to meet its international obligations.
The “counter-proposal” incorporating this ultimatum, which was conveyed by Iran’s nuclear negotiator to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna Friday, cancels out the whole point of the plan offered, to reduce the level of uranium stocks usable by Iran for making a nuclear bomb. Tehran also called for more negotiations before
Tehran delivered its final response.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, rotating presidency of the European Union, told AP that Iran’s approach of “back-and-forth talks” were reminiscent of its “same old tricks.”
Saturday, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a veiled warning: “We hope the negotiations continue and evil powers don’t indulge in mischief because the Zionist regime and other domineering powers are unhappy with the talks,” he said in an Iranian state TV interview: “Today, Westerners know that without engaging Iran, they cannot rule the world, because Iran… rules world public opinion.”
Within hours, fellow hardliners in Tehran chipped in: Deputy parliament speaker Aleddin Boroujerdi said the second time this week: “We are completely opposed to the proposals.
We have deep mistrust of Westerners.”
Qazem Jalili, a member of the Iranian parliament’s foreign affairs and security committee (who is related to Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili) dismissed the world powers’ proposal as “completely out of the question.”
Netanyahu’s words of praise for president Obama when he met Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell Friday followed an informal message from Washington asking Israel’s political, military and intelligence spokesmen to align their conduct and statements on the Iran issue with the UK, France and Germany.
The Israeli prime minister made no reference to Iran’s negative response to the compromise it was offered in the framework of Obama’s engagement policy. Nor did he indicate where this left Israel.
That Iran’s counter-proposal was a resounding “no” to an initiative backed by the world’s powers and the UN was far from clear in secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s tortuous remarks Friday: “We are working to determine exactly what they are willing to do, whether this was an initial response that is an end response or the beginning of getting to where we expect them to end up,” she said, urging: “The process must play out.”
She may be in denial, but Tehran’s rebuff will certainly play out in Obama’s other diplomatic initiatives.
After being badly mauled in Pakistan over US drone attacks on Taliban bastions and US policy in general, Clinton arrives in Jerusalem Saturday, Oct. 31, to administer yet another push for getting Israel-Palestinian peace talks restarted.
When he met her earlier in Abu Dhabi, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas made it clear that he stood by his precondition for talks: Israel must halt settlement construction on the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Netanyahu, whom she meets Saturday night, will probably agree to negotiations without preconditions.
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