China wants Iran to sincerely address Western concerns:
"China always holds that the Iranian nuclear issue should be properly solved through dialogue and cooperation," Hong told a daily news briefing.
"The Iranian side should also show flexibility and sincerity," he said.
Because if you can fake that, you'll be a nuclear power in no time.
Russia warns the West that stopping Iran from becoming a nuclear power is worse than letting Iran become a nuclear power:
"This would be a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow when asked about reports that Israel was preparing for a possible pre-emptive military strike.
In St. Petersburg, Russia, Salehi said Iran "condemns any threat of military attack on independent states."
Well, other than Georgia, of course. I guess Georgia is on notice that they should acquire a nuclear deterrent.
But I digress. As everyone knows, it is only understandable when rogue nations want nuclear weapons.
Anyway ...
Yeah, an angry but denuclearized Iran would be dangerous. They might even go so far as to try to bomb targets in Washington, D.C.! It's as if all our nuclear weapons can't deter Iran--even without a single atomic weapon in the mullahs' possession--from attacking our nation's capital!
America and France, who just don't want to get involved, are disavowing the only cop that has both the means (limited as they are) and incentive (surely the first Iranian bomb will have Tel Aviv programmed into its targeting software) to stop Iran from going nuclear. As if Iran needs further lessons in our refusal to act.
Meanwhile, Iran advances toward nuclear weapons and nobody wants to arrest that development. We tell comforting stories to ourselves that we can deter Iran because they wouldn't dare risk our massive nuclear retaliation.
Have a nice day.
UPDATE: Whether good cop or bad cop, both are on Iran's side:
For Iranian envoys at an Asian affairs summit this week in Russia, it was the ultimate dream team: The Russian prime minister and China's premier standing shoulder to shoulder and promising to keep Western influence at bay.
Iran's leaders are now counting on the country's two most powerful friends to remain by their side after the release of a U.N. report suggesting that Tehran could be on the brink of having the capability to develop an atomic weapon.
Russia may no longer be or enemy. And China may not yet be a declared enemy. But neither is our friend.
