Deadline

Today, it is anticipated that the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, will submit a report to the UN Security Council finding that Iran has failed to meet a Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment.

I'll believe in Mr. ElBaradei's work when I see it. The facts are less important than the politics, and this is an extremely political case. I suspect that the IAEA report will indicate a certain amount of truculence on the part of Iran, but stop short of saying that Iran is not cooperating.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, says that there is "unanimity" on Iran among Security Council members. With all due respect to Don Miguel, that's laughable, and he knows it: because Don Miguel also says that ". . .the clear message to the Iranian authorities is one of firmness, we have to continue with the diplomatic path."

"The diplomatic path" is diplo-speak for "hear no evil, see no evil, speak loudly, but do not one damned thing."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seems not to get it. Secretary Rice tells us: [t]he Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security. . ."

Well, no ma'am, the "primary and most important institution" for those purposes is really the American military, and anybody familiar with the history of the past 60 years knows it. Secretary Rice though, is a diplomat, and must talk this way, which means she utters platitudes by the bushel when talking about the UN. Speaking of platitudes, Secretary Rice says the Security Council ". . . cannot have its word and its will simply ignored by a member state."

Wanna bet ?

Iranian "President" Mahmoud "Mad Jad" Ahmadinejad again takes the UN at its true worth. Secure in the knowledge that Russia and China (and thus, the Eurocrats, the American media and Democratic party) -- won't support doing much of anything; Mad Jad says the Iranian nation "won't give a damn about such useless resolutions."

Remember, anything not approved first by Russia and China is certainly not okay with our nation's moral arbiters: the New York Times editorial page.