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| US-Israel Tough Sanctions Strategy Falls Apart. | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 7 2010, 09:05 PM (86 Views) | |
| Wil | Mar 7 2010, 09:05 PM Post #1 |
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Last straw (if true) if I'm Israel. US-Israel tough sanctions strategy falls apart. Tehran is sitting pretty DEBKAfile Special Report March 6, 2010, 2:16 PM (GMT+02:00) The US-led Western powers are scrapping tough measures incorporated in the original motion they drafted for a UN Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran, according to diplomats at the UN Center. To make the draft more acceptable to Russia and China, the blacklisting of Iran's central bank has been replaced by a decision to "strengthen vigilance" over the bank's transactions, leaving only new overseas Iranian banks to be targeted. The text earlier dropped the restrictions proposed by France against Iran's oil and gas industries, as well as the original US plan to halt supplies of gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran. As the haggling goes on, Moscow refuses to endorse a full arms embargo similar to the regime in place against North Korea. debkafile reports: By the time it is tabled, the sanctions resolution will be toothless as an instrument for holding back Iran's dash for a nuclear bomb and its weapons of delivery. Tehran already senses the new penalties will leave it sitting pretty with its economy, military assets and commercial ties unimpaired. China is holding out against any talk of sanctions, stalling Western efforts to convene an early conference of the Six-Power negotiating forum next month to approve the motion for tabling. By then - as debkafile has predicted for months - not much will be left of the impressive sanctions package put together by the Obama administration to deprive Iran of its regular supplies of essential goods and cash flow. With a third of its economy crippled, Tehran was expected to come to heel on its nuclear program. The package consisted of five restrictive measures: 1. A boycott of Iran's banking system, particularly its central bank, to restrict its overseas commercial activities. This measure dropped by the wayside Friday, March 5. 2. A crackdown on foreign investment in Iran by withholding US and European insurance and reinsurance coverage. 3. Suspension of projects for developing Iran's gas and oil deposits, mainly by withholding replacement equipment and spare parts. 4. Sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards Corps, its business empire and its military, technical and financial arms within Iran and overseas. If the measure survives the ongoing bargaining process, this boycott would affect the IRGC's fleet of 115 merchant vessels and its giant military-civilian building complex, also subjecting its individual generals and executives to travel bans and freezing their assets. Even so, dropping the ban on refined oils exports has left the IRGC which controls this sector with a large slice of its revenue intact. 5. Canvassing the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to close their ports and banks to Iranian merchandise and financial transactions. For months, the US and Israel have worked hard to enlist worldwide support for these sanctions. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds of the Persian Gulf, Europe, China and latterly Brazil and Argentina. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu held talks in various European capitals, ending in Moscow. Defense minister Ehud Barak visited Washington every few weeks to keep Israel aligned with the Obama administration's efforts. Last week, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon and Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer were in Beijing to argue the case against allowing Iran to become a nuclear power. The reasons this carefully-crafted sanctions tool is losing its edge are, firstly, because Washington went for international endorsement without showing the way first. Had the Obama administration led the way by starting to clamp down stiff sanctions in stages itself from the end of 2009, as the US president promised Netanyahu, the enterprise might have attained enough momentum to gather in key European nations. Instead, the effort is fading, as attested to by Clinton's statement last week that instead of March, "several months" were needed to get the measures going. Key world powers, such as Moscow and Beijing, took this second postponement as an invitation to press harder for softer penalties. Secondly, the North Korean example has demonstrated that sanctions don't work if not backed by stern measures. Pyongyang has not only refused to dismantle its nuclear program, but no one is stopping its transfers of nuclear and ballistic missile technology to Iran and Syria. Thirdly, whenever asked in world capitals what would happen if sanctions failed, US emissaries had no answer, while their Israeli partners could only hint at a military option as the only remaining recourse. Most world powers therefore switched the main thrust of their Iran policies toward strengthening the Obama administration's hand in opposing a Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, thus leaving the sanctions threat without a follow-up strategy. http://debka.com/article/8633/ |
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| Josepha | Mar 8 2010, 06:50 AM Post #2 |
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Exod.5 [1] And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. [2] And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. [3] And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. [4] And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. [5] And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. [6] And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, [7] Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. [8] And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. [9] Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. [10] And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. [11] Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. [12] So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. [13] And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. [14] And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore? [15] Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? [16] There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. [17] But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD. [18] Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. [19] And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. [20] And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: [21] And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. [22] And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? [23] For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. |
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| Wil | Mar 9 2010, 09:46 AM Post #3 |
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West drafts weakened Iran sanctions By JPOST.COM STAFF 06/03/2010 06:40 Russia, China oppose full banking embargo; Russia also opposes weapons embargo. Western countries, under pressure from Russia and China, drafted a blueprint for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran which would not tighten the ban on trade between Western banks and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Israel Radio reported overnight Friday. Diplomats at the United Nations were quoted as saying that the United States, Britain, France and Germany accepted Russia’s proposal that the West only ban trading with newly-established Iranian banks, and not increase existing trade limitations with the CBI. China holds a position similar to Russia’s. The new UN draft for sanctions against Iran would not put the Islamic republic in a black list of countries obligating all member states to avoid trade with the country, but does allow smaller entities, like the US or the entire bloc of European Union member countries, to implement their own sanctions. Russia proposed that oversight on trade with Iran be made according to a similar model as current global trade with North Korea. Additionally, Russia opposes a full weapons embargo against Iran. A Moscow official was quoted by Israel Radio as saying that the deal to supply Iran with the S-300 anti-missile defense system would go ahead. During a recent visit by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the country, Moscow promised not to implement a deal to sell the system after Netanyahu convinced the Russians that such a move would destabilize the region. The S-300 is considered the best system of its kind today and can engage multiple targets at once. Israel views Iranian deployment of the system as a serious obstacle to any potential aerial attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Although the arms deal was signed several years ago, it has yet to be implemented. However, a prominent Israeli Iran expert, Dr. Ronen Bergman, has assessed that Iran has already been supplied with the system and has deployed it. The US, France and Germany would have the UN Security Council discuss the new drafts in the coming weeks, but the implementation of new sanctions may take several months, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. Iran is already under three rounds of UN sanctions. http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/ |
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