Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Curt Here...

Hello again everyone, it has been awhile since I posted,  so it is good to be back.

If you have been following the news lately in Iran, than you would know that Iran has elected a new president.  His name is Hasan Rowhani, and he has been labeled by the international community as a moderate who may be willing to negotiate on Iran's nuclear weapon program, but is this true?  From my perspective I believe there is good reason to seriously question just how moderate this man is.  Here are a few facts about this situation that support my questioning.

First, the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei is really the man in charge in the country of Iran. This is the man that is driving Iran towards nuclear weapons.

Second, even though the people of Iran cast their vote for Rowhani, he was simply one of several candidates that was hand picked and allowed to run by the Ayatollah. Therefore, it is not hard to see that Rowhani is very loyal to the Ayatollah and to his nuclear ambitions.

Third, Hasan Rowhani is a radical Shia cleric, but unlike his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who consistently spoke radical inflammatory language towards Israel and the US, Rowhani's language is much more moderate and cooperative.

From my point of view it is not hard to figure out what is going on here.  The approach of Ahmandinejad was not working, when it came to smooth international relations with the west.  His consistent inflammatory language made it very easy for Israel and the west to garner international support towards halting Iran's nuclear ambitions.  Of course, stopping Iran has never really happened as they have continued their march towards a nuclear weapon, but the leadership of Iran is viewed internationally as radical because of Ahmandinejad. However, Rowhani has an opportunity to smooth relations between Iran and the west with the appearance that progress is being made towards halting Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions, all the while casting Israel as uncooperative and radical. 

Of course Iran has absolutely no intention of stopping it's nuclear weapon program and I believe their goal is to continue making weapons and isolate Israel at the same time.  So, do we really have a new moderate Iranian President that is willing to actually negotiate towards the end of Iran's nuclear weapons program or do we have two sides to the same coin?

As the famous line from that famous song goes "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

Stay Tuned

Curt

PS  The 70th Week has recently opened a twitter account, which you can find here.  Feel free to follow.

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Netanyahu: New Iranian leader won’t stop nuclear program

Prime minister cautions against ‘wishful thinking,’ says incoming president Rowhani has a ‘talk and enrich’ policy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that the new Iranian president has been very clear about Iran’s nuclear policy, and that neither Israel nor the world should delude themselves into thinking that policy will change under his tenure. 

“Wishful thinking is not a substitute for policy. The new Iranian president has been very clear. He is the author of a doctrine. You could call it ‘talk and enrich’ — that is, ‘talk and continue to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.’ He said that that by calming the international community, Iran is able to steadily move forward in its nuclear weapons program,” said Netanyahu........

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