With the "progress" by the so-called P5+1 on the issue of nuclearization of the mullahs at a stand-still, the mullahs in the meantime are progressing rapidly toward the very aim- Ahmadinejad now insists that his nuclear folks are spinning 18 rows of 164-linked centrifuges in unison and soon will be "
industrialized"- for this and more, you may want to read Elaine Sciolino's article in IHT (NYT) here (November 29, 2007).
The level of desperation is evident; considerable white noise is being broadcast over the mass media channels that fissures have developed between Iran and Syria, over the action of Syria to attend the Annapolis love fest last week in the US- see, for instance here. It is being channelized as a US/Israel policy of marginalization of the mullahs by bringing the Syrians into fold and in trying to cut off the mullahs' logistics route to much of Lebanon and the Palestine. Perhaps, Israel is even ready to give up the Golan Heights to ward off its "existential threat". But perhaps, as the IHT article cited above makes clear, the mullahs are on the level strategizers as the Israelis: since 1982, they have built up assets in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and of course, Syria. To think, that suddenly after, largely thanks to the US, a complete makeover of Iraq in the hands of the mullahs, the topology of events in the middle east, visa-a-vis, Iran, is going to change, is a holiday wish. It's more like an act of desperation.
What is clear, however, is the following: talking, negotiating, cajoling the Iranian mullahs' is a flight of fantasy; let's give that up! The last time the US "talked" with the murderers in Iran, it gave them all sorts of weapons to kill more people, not to mention a colt and a bible. Sanctions, even the ones that target the Pasdarans, have only a workable regime, if they are aligned with a massive soft intervention on behalf of the Iranian people. The P5+1 won't and don't have the resources and ability to fully dislodge this regime- they need help. This help can only come from those who have the support of the people of Iran and can affect the outcome, also after the regime is gone. There is a solution at hand.
