Even Newsweek admits that the Iran nuclear talks are going nowhere and that Iran is developing nuclear weapons

Welcome to the real world, Richard. Now, will it ever stop being the "holy city of Qum" if the people who purport to revere it the most think nothing of building weapons of mass destruction in it?

Do you think we could stop with the referential treatment by the media of what city is "holy"? Maybe we could just stick to real descriptions of places?

Even Newsweek admits that the Iran nuclear talks are going nowhere and that Iran is developing nuclear weapons

I've changed my mind. The nuclear talks are going nowhere. The Iranians appear intent on developing the means to produce a nuclear weapon; there is no other explanation for the secret uranium-enrichment facility discovered near the holy city of Qum. Fortunately, their nuclear program appears to have hit some technical snags, which puts off the need to decide whether to launch a preventive strike. Instead we should be focusing on another fact: Iran may be closer to profound political change than at any time since the revolution that ousted the shah 30 years ago.
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Mr. Spencer, I'm afraid I have to—very respectfully—disagree somewhat with your analysis here. Yes—Newsweek is finally admitting that Iran seems hell-bent on developing nuclear capabilities, but, I think, only because that has become pretty obvious to anyone who is paying even the slightest attention to the situation.

But it is the second part of the paragraph above that sounds like the old Newsweek—the idea that this alarming situation is not really cause for concern, after all—since Iran has hit some sort of "technical snags" and may face "profound political change" (which, of course, might or might not change Iran's nuclear ambitions or its targets, even if it were to occur).

Newsweek's final analysis (if it can be so dignified)—in light of the above, this "puts off the need to decide whether to launch a preventive strike"—in other words, 'go back to sleep'.

And 'go back to sleep' seems to have been pretty much Newsweek's advice to the West vis-a-vis Iran for years now.

Such as this, from Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria, from last May:

Newsweek Editor: Iran Wants Nukes...But Only for Civilian Uses

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/05/24/newsweek-editor-iran-wants-nukes-only-civilian-uses

or this, from 2007:

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran is not a 'clear and present danger.'

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-169229985.html

It has taken years, years of delay, years of false promises and years of distraction and excuse-making of every kind (including the repetition, as if it were an Article of Faith, that bombing -- to set back, for a long time, the nuclear project of the out-of-control Islamic Republic of Iran -- would "not work" or, still sillier, "would set the Middle East on fire."). When Iraq's nuclear reactor was bombed, there was similar hysteria. But that attack ended, for several decades, Saddam Hussein's attempt to acquire nuclear weapons.

The American involvement in the meretricous mess that is permanentnly Pakistan, the huge sums being squandered on the meretricious Pakistanis, the attempt even to keep the Pakistani government afloat, is all a result of only one thing: that Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons, and we are worried about what might happen to them. The American government was criminally negligent in allowing Pakistan to acquire, through a medicre metallurgist given access to Western labs where he could steal nuclear knowhow, and then through the sums that the Americans continued to transfer to Pakistan and that freed up money for Pakistan's military, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to develop nuclear weapons. They were paid for by American taxpayers.

Now the American government is being criminally negligent in not dealing, using the only thing that will work -- force -- to set back the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear project. The objection raised, that this will prevent the toppling of the regime, which seemed to some so imminent just two months ago (it was an optical illusion, and now that Haiti has dominated the airwaves, and whatever is going on in Iran is no longer the first item, or even the tenth, we can dampen our naive assumptions -- not shared, by the way, by many of the most celebrated and secular of Iranians who have seen through, lived too through much -- about this "overturning of the regime."

An American attack, some argue, would cause everyone, even the dissidents, to rally round the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not after the events of the past few months. No, that has changed things. Of course, there would be, for a few weeks or months, some who would rally round the flag, and certainly the regime would play that theme up.

But what might have occurred a year ago will now, after the last eight months since the June electoral farce, no longer occur. The dissidents, that is the sensible ones, the ones who do not confuse loyalty to Iran with a mindless loyalty to the Islamic Republic of Iran whose nuclear project would be severely damaged or destroyed in such an attack. This will not cause a long-term rallying round that flag, as might have been the case a year ago. Now Iranians, even some who once opposed so firmly the idea of such an attack - putting all their hopes in a "change of regime" that is not nearly as imminent as they thought or expected -- are, at least some of them,coming to realize, I suspect, even if they are hesitant to express that realization openly, that if the Islamic Republic of Iran were succesful in acquiring nuclear weapons, it would be impossible to dislodge it. The primitive masses in Iran who -- don't forget-- far outnumber the Westernized, the deeply disaffected, the piningly secular -- will find their hearts swelling with misplaced pride, and the regime will win a new, very long lease on life.

This should be an American and not an Israeli attack, for many reasons, including the far greater might of the American military (with an armory that includes ICBMs, and plenty of other missiles and planes, that can come from all directions at once), and thus the likely greater success of such an attack. Besides, Israel will be the target of immediate Iranian revenge, and Israel cannot be expected both to conduct such an attack, and manage to stave off the barrage of attacks that both Hamas, inthe south, and far more dangerously, Hezbolllah with its tens of thousands of missiles, is preparing to launch from its new bases much further to the north of the Lebanese border. Israel can protect itself, and damage all the Iranian proxies in the neighborhood, but it can't do, and can't cruelly be expected to do, everything at once. The American government, the United States as the greatest power of an Infidel coalition that does not yet dare to recognize much less identify itself as such, is in a position to assume its responsibliities, and should.

There is another, more complicated reason for having the Americans, rather than the Israelis, attack the nuclear project. And that is the peculiar history, a pre-Islamic history, that links Persia and Jews, from the time of Cyrus and Darius. Secular Iranians, abroad and inside Iran, are aware that Iran needs a local ally, and Israel is that natural local ally. It is a non-Muslim and non-Arab power, and if secularism is to have a fighting chance in Iran, if Iranians are to be able to systematically tie down Islam (as Ataturk tried in Turkey), they will need to emphasize the fact that Islam has always been a vehicle for Arab imperialism, and to exploit the contempt felt by Iranians for "primitive dseert Arabs." To Western man, it may seem absurd that a history that goes back more than three millennia -- that of the Persians and the Jews -- should be exploitable for present or future purposes, but in the history-haunted MIddle East, it does not seem absurd at all. That is why Isrsel should be relieved of the responsbility of dealing with that nuclear project which, at all times, must bew identified as the handiwork of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and not Iran, historic Iran that existed before the fanatics-in-faith arrived to see Shari'a justice done.

What about the Holy city of New York. Saint Patrick's Cathedral is there. What about the Holy City of Washigton DC. The National Cathedral is there.

No, we have to endure the crap of the Holy City of Qum because it has a mosque there and somehow that puts that city off limits to any miltary action even though a nuke facility has been built there so that it is sacrosanct and out of bounds.

BS - How about Qum the City of Open Sewers...? Why do you think they have foot baths?

Excuse for OT:

Jihad:

Forced Islamization of Christian Girls Supported By Egyptian State
http://www.open-speech.com/en/showthread.php?p=527328

"Instead we should be focusing on another fact: Iran may be closer to profound political change than at any time since the revolution that ousted the shah 30 years ago"

Wrong, this in itself is a tactic to distract and buy more time. Even if this "profound" change were to take place, iran would continue developing and amassing nuclear weapons and at best this would be presented to the West as being done under the control of more moderate people. Quite benign, just for their museum collection, right.Richard has just given up the smack for the methadone.

Whether deliverate or not, the protests and the hope of political transformation in iran serves the purpose of impeading what really needs to be done to save our future,
and prevent a megaholocaust.

Do you think we could stop with the referential treatment by the media of what city is "holy"?

This is remdindful of when the much revered and dearly departed host of Meet The Press, Tim Russert, obsequiously referred to Mohammed as "the Holy Prophet" when timidly asking CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper a quetion.

Honest Ibe wasn't pleased with the question, his eyes blazing from within his hairy face, his upper lip curled into a disdainful sneer as he answered the timid question. For once I agreed with Hoop: I was as disgusted as he was, but for a different reason.

*** 92:8 ***

And just what did Mohammed ever prophesy, anyway?

Newsweek's admittance is pretty much what gravenimage said it was-----not much of an admittance at all. We're still just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Newsweak and the Somonix solution.

But the United States of America, England and other Western democracies are paralyzed with collective pathological cowardice. Cowardice, cowardice, cowardice without precedent in the entire world history. Even Chamerlain had reverced himself and declared war on Nazi Germany after his appeasement of it blew back in his face so spectacularly before the eyes of the entire world. Too late to prevent the loss of 50 million lives. This time, the loss of life is potentially even more horrific now that the mad suicide bombers are within a short reach of the ultimate bomb. The Western world is in a state of severe degeneration.
Who will save Western civilization from this pitiful condition? Who will save the world from the intolerable peril?
We had the saviour ready to take on the mission, a man of courage, Rudy Giuliani, 2 years ago. The Republican voters swiftly ditched him in favor of the Insane McCain and Rev. HolyBee (the former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister). The crudely and openly greedy HolyBee. The HolyBee who pardoned more criminals than 2 of his predeccessors combined. The HolyBee who let rapists and murderers loose to kidnap, rape, torture and murder again. None of that mattered to the Evangelical Dixy voters. The only thing that they valued was that the HolyBee buzzed Jesus to them so sweet. What chance did poor Rudy have against him in this religiosity contest? Shows that religion has no place in politics or government. As columnist Maureen Dowd put it after 9/11: "Religion is failing us when we need it the most".
A catastrophical collective stupidity of the American voters. And nearly 100% percent of the blame should be laid at the feet of the Republican primary voters. They could not see the savior of our country and the entire Western world right before their eyes. They were too worked-up with their Taliban-style religious fervor. The result? Obamus Carterus. And no light of hope ahead.

Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.

Things happen in Iran in "9" years:

1979: The Khomeini revolution, the takover of the US Embassy and the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis;

1989: Khomeini dies; Bush I bows to Iran's threatening note attached to the gruesome video of the hanged American hostage Lt. Col. William Higgins. No retalliation for the torture and execution. Munich servitude instead. The stage is set for the escalation of the Iranian aggression and more mass murders of Americans: Khobar, and, yes, 9/11 in which Iran played akey role. The cowardly Daddy Bush bombs Panama killing up to 5,000 civilians just to discipline his own puppet Noriega, but swings the gates open for Iran's Quds and Hezbollah thugs. Hezbollah who already committed many mass murders of Americans in their own country Lebanon, now swagger in the open in the streets of American cities, thugging, bullying, intimidating, sabjugating their "white American slaves". With coward Bush in the White House and Dhimkins-Dinkins as Mayor of New York City, Hezbollah Fares brothers pick on 2 Dinkins city employees outside their own office, slash them with knives, then beat them half-dead with clubs. The cowardly NYC prosecutors, instead of putting the cutthroats in prison, beg them to "voluntarily" return home to Lebanon. The thugs "aggree", but in no time they are back, swaggering cockily through the streets of NYC.

1999: Unprecedented student protests in Iran. The cowardly sociopath Clinton, in the middle of crucifying Serbia to please the Muslims, does nothing to aid the revolt, letting the Islamo-Nazis brutally suppress it.

2009: An even greater popular revolt, now involving far broader segments of the Iranian people. Paralyzed by debilitating cowardice, the United States and other Western democracies do nothing as the Revolutionary Goard SS and the Basij Storm Troopers brutalize people in the strees, pursue them to their homes, go after their families, invade sudent dormitories at night, batter, kidnap, torture, rape, murder. The popular revolt has been now murdered. The great opportunity to remove the intolerable existential Islamo-
Nazi Iranian threat to the entire Western world has been wasted, out of cowardice.

Each of those years just happens to be a round anniversary of 1939, as if to remind the West what happens when it does not dare to take a stand against evil.

Here's an anguished appeal of an Iranian exile who implores the Western nations to find in themselves courage to act. To find something that, alas, does not exist:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2010807252_guest19kaviani.html