Posts Tagged Iran

Iran Or Belarus?

A case of real hypocrisy: Iran’s President Welcome in EU. Belarus’s Not.

What if, as a sign of courtesy to the Austrian presidency in the EU, Ahmadinejad visits one Viennese prison cell — that of David Irving, another Holocaust-denier with much less pretentious claims about it? He would probably get away with it too. Could anybody imagine Austrians jailing the president of the nuclear-rich Iran? He is not David Irving with his books of dubious quality. He does not wear pinstriped suits. All he does is call for Israel to be whipped off the map. Or at least be moved to Europe. Not a single reason to bar him from the EU? I wish the EU was as hospitable to all Muslim guests, not just Ahmadinejad.

We don’t get to pick and choose our enemies; sometimes they pick us as such. But to pick and choose based on naked self interest — punishing those who can do nothing for you while rewarding those who can, yet pretend that you are punishing the wicked and rewarding the virtuous is not just hypocritical but wicked itself.

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All Talleyrand All The Time

French President Jacques Chirac either doesn’t mind Iranian nukes or is a fool (or both). He has warned the Iranians that unless they take European inducements and suspend their quest for nuclear bomb, the United Nations Security Council will have no choice but to take up the matter. More talk, that’s the ticket. Boy, Wes Craven is kicking himself for not thinking up anything half as scary as that for his movies. Come on Jacques, that’s the best you can do? A slap on the wrist with a wet noodle? If you really want compliance, just tell the mullahs that if they don’t abandon the A-bomb, you’ll have no choice but to tell George Bush “bombs away, cowboy!” Now that’s a threat they’ll take seriously. 

With Jacques, the real message could be that for the right price, you’ll put the UN in charge and then block any moves there. At least, that’s what a student of history might conclude.

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