ISSUES....
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Iran
and Germany are finshed
I take back all the bad things I have been saying about President
Bush. Iran and Germany are finshed.
Scott Sullivan
Bush and Putin Rough out Breakthrough Strategic Deal for Dumping
Iran
Debka.com
October
23, 2007, 7:43 PM (GMT+02:00)
From
Tehran to Washington
The first hint that a strategic deal was brewing was dropped by
Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a news conference in Tehran
last week, he alluded to a shift in the controversy with Washington
which might settle his dispute with President George W. Bush on
the US missile shield in East Europe.
His comment
went largely unnoticed - except by officials in Tehran, who noted
his reference to a possible understanding with the Americans – though
not with Iran.
Then, on Monday, Oct. 22, Bush and Putin talked at length on the
phone and made further progress towards an understanding.
The outline
of the American role in the deal surfaced in Prague Tuesday,
Oct. 23, when US secretary of defense Robert Gates suggested
a possible delay in activating the proposed US missile interceptor
project in Poland and radar station in the Czech Republic - until
an Iranian threat was “definitely proved.”
Gates articulated
this concession for allaying Moscow’s
strong opposition after he held talks with Czech prime minister
Mirek Topolanek. Gates added that the US would proceed with plans
to build the sites, but possibly wait before putting them in working
order.
"We would consider tying together activation of the sites
in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat — in
other words, Iranian missile testing and so on," Gates said.
The proposal has already been presented to the Russians who have
expressed interest. Gates described a related proposal that might
mean permitting a Russian presence at US missile defense bases,
including at the Polish and Czech sites.
US president
George Bush spoke a short while later at the National Defense
University in Washington. He said the US-led missile defense
system in Europe is urgent, but spoke positively about Putin’s
offer of missile defense facilities in Azerbaijan and southern
Russia. The entire project, said the US president, is “part
of a broader effort to move beyond the Cold War” that could
lead to “an unprecedented level of strategic cooperation” between
Russia and the United States.” He referred to Iran as “an
emerging threat that affects us all.”
The Pentagon wants to install 10 interceptor rockets in Poland,
linked to tracking radar in the Czech Republic and to other elements
of the missile defense system based in the United States.
Bush’s words and the plan outlined by Gates represent a
major US concession to Russia and a triumph for Putin’s dogged
opposition to the deployment of US missile defense bases in two
former Warsaw Treaty nations. The Bush administration can also
congratulate itself on bringing the Russian leader round to admitting
that Iranian missiles are a threat to Europe; its corollary - the
Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is a threat to the world.
As long as
the deal is not wrapped up between the two world readers, DEBKAfile’s
Washington and Moscow sources say these key questions remain
open:
How far will Putin go in his support for an American clampdown
on Iran? Will tough sanctions by the UN Security Council and the
world community be his limit? And what if Iran continues to defiantly
press ahead with its nuclear weapons program in the face of a military
showdown with the United States? Will Russia then look away?
The Bush-Putin deal is still in the making. Some answers may be
forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
Copyright 2000-2007 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved
Petroleumworld
10 25 07
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