September 18, 2007
In Case You Missed It...
... we're going to war with Iran. France is on board, too. (With us, not Iran.)
What?
The surreality of global relations this week is enough to make us wonder if we're trapped inside one of John Bolton's fevered dreams. Let's untangle this web of crazy carefully, lest all our heads collectively explode.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is now seeking to assure allies that his country will "negotiate, negotiate, negotiate" before resorting to the option of war with Iran. On Sunday, the socialist ignited a firestorm when he told an interviewer, "We must prepare for the worst," adding, "The worst, sir, is war."
Kouchner said that France was "preparing" itself for the prospect of war in the event efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear program were unsuccessful.
En route to a meeting with his counterpart in Moscow today, Kouchner sought to dial back his earlier remarks. "I do not want it said that I'm a warmonger. My message was one of peace, serious and determined," he told traveling reporters. Later, he blamed the media for running wild with what he'd said on Sunday. "As usual with journalists, they take one phrase and you don't know what came after," he said on a Russian radio talk show.
That's fair. Then again, maybe France picked a really bad time to propose Germany dump its historical baggage and dive into the nukes business.
During a meeting in Berlin last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy nonchalantly suggested to Chancellor Angela Merkel that Germany go nuclear -- forgetting that such talk is verboten in Deutschland.
"Both the chancellor and her foreign minister were speechless," reports Der Spiegel in a lively account of the tête–à–tête. According to the German weekly, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier "was the first to regain his composure," and after he explained that Germany had no interest in joining the atomic club, Merkel politely backed him up with a smile.
Awkward, non? It appears that the brash, America-loving Sarkozy is rubbing the German chancellor the wrong way. The newly elected French leader "has the tendency to approach sensitive diplomatic issues with all the finesse of an Energizer bunny," Der Spiegel riffs, and some of his country's papers "have received pleas to introduce at least one Sarkozy-free day a week." The clash between the two leaders' styles has duly alarmed newspapers in both nations, Deutsche Welle reports.
Which should make for one fun-filled Friday in Washington. The five permanent voting members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany are due here to discuss nuclear proliferation in Iran. Last week, German officials confirmed that they did not support a third round of sanctions against Iran just yet, reportedly prompting U.S. officials to revive invasion scenarios. The threat of war against Iran alarmed its allies on the Council, Russia and China, which are now doubly upset that France also appears to be beating the drums of war.
Kouchner's interview on Sunday prompted Moscow to draft evacuation plans for its countrymen in Iran, and Russian and Chinese officials warned its fellow negotiators off threatening their Middle Eastern business partner. Both countries have signaled they would also not support new sanctions, and if joined by Germany, the three could be facing off against the U.S., Britain and France this week.
As Washington and its partners attempt to rally other Security Council nations to their cause, some in the media wonder if they're being played. In other words, is all this bluster little more than Sturm und Drang?
For instance, we still know hardly anything about that Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike against Syria. Officials in Israel, the U.S. and Syria are saying practically nothing on the record; at the same time, unnamed sources are telling reporters either that the Israeli planes targeted munitions from Iran designated for Hezbollah or that they were sent after nuclear materials supplied by North Korea.
What gives? Syria has filed a complaint with the U.N., but won't allow access to the targeted site. North Korea vociferously denies funneling nukes to Syria, but North Korea denies practically everything. Members of the Knesset, Israel's governing body, complain that even they were told nothing of the incursion. Bizarrely, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly announced on Monday that he had "great respect" for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Israeli President Shimon Peres said today that "the nervousness in the relations between Syria and ourselves is over." Meanwhile, Syrians continue to accuse Israel and the U.S. of using the report as an excuse to invade them.
In the absence of anything to really hang our hat on, we have to wonder if all this speculation really is a whispering campaign designed to get nations lined up against Iran, North Korea and now Syria. Bolton, the highly controversial former U.N. ambassador, has lashed out at his one-time backers for their diplomatic overtures to those enemy states. This week, he appeared on FOX to either speculate about the airstrikes or tell viewers something that only he and a select few know about them.
None of this is to say that North Korea isn't supplying Syria with nuclear material, or that twitchy reporters aren't jumping to wild conclusions about foreign policy basics (i.e., never take any option off the table). The point is, we know hardly anything about the airstrikes or the Pentagon's war plans. Haaretz is disturbed that so much non-reporting is driving the airstrike story. The Observer's Peter Beaumont smells a rat, and his name rhymes with Chick Maney.
Posted at 6:30 PM
Posted to:
Asia, Bush Administration, China, Europe, France, Germany, Iran, Middle East, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Syria, Terrorism, U.K., U.N.
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