Iranian sanctions

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The problem was that Iran was threatening to precipitate a Cold War with Saudi Arabia. This was possible because of the weakness brought to Iraq by American devastation. Now that Syria is in civil war and Iraq is looking similar, Iran is on the defensive. Coupled with the ongoing sanctions, they're hurting from it all; they have nothing to gain by NWMD mummery now. Shouldn't be long before a solid bargain is struck that lets Iran move on with its civilian nuclear ambitions.

Hopefully. Of course, there have been previous offers from third party governments to work out an arrangement where Iran keeps its nuclear program and the byproducts that could be enriched for weapons would be sent elsewhere. The US turned them down at the time because the powers that be had no interest in negotiations that let up on Iran.

I guess that what myself and my fellow citizens would have to decide is, what is more important to us: nukes or medicine? If the answer was "nukes," then so be it, but we would have no right to blame our lack of medicine on the "great power."

The big difference is that because I live in Canada, a country whose government generally plays properly with others in the global community, nobody in the world really cares if we build nuclear reactors. In fact, we have had them for years, and guess what? We have never used them to produce material to build nuclear weapons of our own.

But because the Iranians have had such a wildcard government for so long, the world at large generally does not believe them when they say they want nuclear technology only for energy purposes.

It is up to the Iranian people to get rid of that government. When they do, they can begin to rebuild their image on a global scale, and guess what? Maybe 20 or 30 years down the road nobody bats an eye if they want to have a nuclear program.

The latest intelligence we have on Iran suggests their nuclear program does not involve weapons in any way. What Israel (and thus, the US) is objecting to is Iran having the capabilities to develop the capabilities to build nuclear weapons. The Iranian people who want a nuclear energy program for reasons of both economy and national pride. As for their government, they seem to be fairly rational, just unpleasant. Though not really any more unpleasant than the Saudis (and I would say the Iranians are a lot less unpleasant on the whole).

In the mean time, we can continue celebrating sanctions that take 30 years to... make Iran a moderate regional power.