THE DAILY BLADE: Reality Check: Part III
Iran launched its first satellite into orbit with a two-stage rocket built by its own scientists, which The New York Times terms “a shot across the bow of American diplomacy.” The Wall Street Journal reports that Washington sees the launch as a signal that “Tehran may be more inclined to flex its muscle than engage in negotiations on its nuclear program.”
Nonetheless, “[m]any Middle East analysts support the Obama administration's intention to engage Iran diplomatically, even if it doesn't eventually lead to high-level talks,” according to The Journal, in the belief that “Washington's stated willingness to work diplomatically with Tehran would likely shift the onus to Mr. Ahmadinejad if a crisis over Iran's nuclear program emerges.”
But Stephen Rademaker, assistant secretary of state responsible for arms control and nonproliferation from 2002 to 2006, asks the $64,000 question in a New York Times op-ed:
“What should the United States demand when it finally talks to Iran? And when Iran rejects our opening position, how much should we compromise to come to a deal?”
The opening act, after all, is entirely predictable. The Obama administration will likely begin negotiations by insisting that Iran suspend its efforts to enrich uranium. Compliance with this requirement — imposed by the United Nations Security Council in July 2006 and reiterated several times since — has been the goal of the European-led negotiations with Iran that President Obama faulted the Bush administration for not joining. Iran has consistently rejected the demands of the United Nations and our European allies, however, and it would be naïve to expect a different answer just because the United States is at the negotiating table. Iran will almost certainly say no, presumably calculating that it can eventually force the world to accept its enrichment program.
Meanwhile, North Korea - which provided technical assistance to Iran to build the rocket – may be preparing to stage another test of its Taepodong-2 missile - which has a range that could possibly reach Alaska, reports The Journal:
U.S. and South Korean officials believe Pyongyang is taking these escalatory steps, in part, to try and exact more concessions from the Obama administration in anticipation of more direct negotiations later this year.
As if two of the three remaining “Axis of Evil” nations simultaneously testing Obama – arguably the most inexperienced commander in chief in this nation’s history – isn’t worrisome enough, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby is concerned that the new president doesn’t understand the threat of Islamofascism – just as Jimmy Carter did not understand the threat of Soviet expansionism.
Jacoby draws parallels between Jimmy Carter making nicey-nicey with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (first a letter six days after he was inaugurated, then assurances that Americans had gotten over their "inordinate fear of communism" in a commencement address at Notre Dame) with Barack Obama making nicey-nicey with “the Muslim world” (declaring in his inaugural message that America “seek[s] a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” then sending a letter to the Organization of the Islamic Conference).
For all Carter’s trouble, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Jacoby asks, “Will that pattern now be repeated with Barack Obama and the threat from radical Islam?” and notes that “[s]ooner or later, Obama must confront an implacable reality: The global jihad, like the Cold War, will end only when our enemies lose their will to fight - or when we do. Let us hope he's a quicker study than Jimmy Carter.”
Indeed.
Nice Work, If You Can Get It
Just as Tom Daschle made a mint over the last five years doing – well, no one is quite sure what – it seems that in 2008 CIA chief nominee Leon Panetta was paid $580,000 to sit on the boards of corporations as an “advisory” director. For instance, PR powerhouse Fleishman-Hillard paid Panetta $120K in to be “just kind of available to us for advisory purposes,” Bill Black, the firm’s senior partner in its Washington office, tells Bloomberg News. California State University, Monterey Bay also paid Mr. Panetta $150K in "consulting fees," but declined to answer The Wall Street Journal’s inquiries about what he did to earn the dough – as did Panetta’s peeps. Didn’t these used to be called “no work” jobs?
The Stiletto Scoops Michael Kinsley
Tom Daschle, Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, may be that proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.
- “Is Daschle’s Nomination DOA?,” The Stiletto Blog, February 2, 2009
[T]he main reason that Geithner survived while Daschle didn’t is that Daschle came second. … The malefactor who comes first gets away with it because the issue is new and we’re not entirely sure how angry we are supposed to be about it. … [T]he malefactor who comes second feels the full fury of our wrath.
- “Editorials and Double Standards,” The Washington Post, February 4, 2009
Editorial Note: Daschle - who has a reptilian air about him (or Cardassian, for you DS9 fans) - did not help matters by bringing undue attention to himself with those ugly-ass red glasses.
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