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| Axis of Evil |
| Patten talks to the Iranians |
| 2003-02-04 |
| No, not THAT Patten, Chris Patten. Chris Patten, the European Union's commissioner for external relations, is in Iran for a three-day visit to initiate more talks aimed at producing a trade and cooperation agreement with the Islamic republic. He'd better hurry before the new government takes over. The negotiations are to begin on Wednesday and Mr Patten will meanwhile be holding talks with Iranian leaders on the political bones of Enjoy the view, Chris, and be sure to see the lovely monument to all the murdered dissidents in Qom. Just ask your hosts to put it on the itinerary; they'll be happy to arrange it. Speaking after a first round of talks with Iranian Foreign Everything is important to the EU, so long as they aren't asked to do anything about it. His trip comes just a few days after President Bush, in his State of the Union address, said the Iranian "The Americans want you to be responsible. We in the EU are happy to buy your oil. Please, please sell us your oil?" "We have concerns about a number of issues, including the manufacture and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction around the world," Mr Patten said. "Not that we in the EU can actually do anything about it other than talk, you understand." "We have different viewpoints on human rights [and] the Middle East... but we would like to try to understand one another better. "Please sell us your oil?" "I hope that we can actually have a better relationship and work together The trade and cooperation negotiations started in Brussels in December and Mr Patten will be kicking off the second round here in Tehran on Wednesday. They are linked to a separate dialogue on human rights and other political issues. The EU is insistent that the linkage is there and that economic relations won't be able to go far without progress on the other issues. Unless the French and Belgians are put in charge, in which case a deal will be cut quickly. The negotiations are expected to go on sporadically for many months before reaching a conclusion. Since we'll see at least two government changes in Iran in the next year, this is a safe statement. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Steve, a post in LGF made me realize that the students are waiting for the US to take out Saddam so that he doesn't complicate things when the Revolution starts. The mullahs could logically (for once!) point out that a revolution would leave the country helpless before Iraq. Since everyone remembers the war with Iraq, it would have cachet (been there, done that, don't want to go back...). Caught between the devil they know and the devil they don't, the iranian students will just keep the pot simmering. When the US takes over Iraq, the Mullahs will STILL claim that a revolution would lay the country helpless before the damned yankees. To which the people and the students will reply "HOT DAMN! MARSHALL PLAN!", pull out the guns they've been hiding, and go for broke. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-02-04 19:09:29 |
| #4 Rw, I'm serious. I'm no better than reading tea-leaves than anyone else around here, and I'm not a diplomat or intel officer so I don't have any special knowledge. But from what I read on the web and in the papers, it's a better than 50-50 chance that after we liberate Iraq, Iran blows up. It'd be nice if the students and democratic forces could toss the mullahs, but by no means is that assured. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-02-04 15:10:20 |
| #3 LGF has an interesting "letter" from The Movement of Iranian Students That group of European policy-makers who for a long time have been busy profiting from poverty, suffering, torture, and death must know that the great Iranian nation, in a not-so-distant future, will uproot the vile presence of the fascist Hezbollah; and, following it, all of the inequitable contracts, which are in fact the price of European silence towards the crimes of the Islamic Republic, will be reanalyzed. It is clear that the future relations of a free Iran with each European country will be shaped by what their current basic position is towards the Islamic Republic! |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-04 11:18:01 |
| #2 "He'd better hurry before the new government takes over." Is that sarcasm or do you seriously think it might happen? |
| Posted by: Rw 2003-02-04 02:23:11 |
| #1 LGF has an interesting "letter" from The Movement of Iranian Students That group of European policy-makers who for a long time have been busy profiting from poverty, suffering, torture, and death must know that the great Iranian nation, in a not-so-distant future, will uproot the vile presence of the fascist Hezbollah; and, following it, all of the inequitable contracts, which are in fact the price of European silence towards the crimes of the Islamic Republic, will be reanalyzed. It is clear that the future relations of a free Iran with each European country will be shaped by what their current basic position is towards the Islamic Republic! |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2/4/2003 11:18:01 AM |