Why did Scott Ritter suggest June as a possible time for attacking Iran? Is he clairvoyant or better connected than even Gannon?
The following article details a timeline which would coincide with just such an timetable.
Prelude to bombing?
U.S. officials in Vienna circulated a position paper for discussion to members of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's governing board on Thursday, as President Bush concluded a tour of Europe in which he repeatedly praised European Union efforts to persuade Tehran to give up on enriching uranium.
Washington will not push the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran's case to the Security Council when it meets next week and no condemnation of the Islamic republic is expected, diplomats on the 35-nation board told Reuters.
But the next quarterly meeting in mid-June will differ.
The draft position paper, seen in full by Reuters, shows Washington is ready to give EU-Iran negotiations until that meeting to achieve their aim. If they fail, it will renew its campaign to have the IAEA refer Iran to the Security Council.
Before the June meeting, the United States wants IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report again on Iran's nuclear program.
"We believe it is essential that the director-general provide to the board in advance of the June board meeting another comprehensive written report describing in full the IAEA's inspection activities in Iran," the document said.
"The board in June must then be prepared to take further action as needed," it added, a phrase diplomats said meant referral to the U.N. Security Council.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the position paper was not meant as a deadline for negotiations, but he added that the United States hoped Iran would live up to its obligations by the June meeting.
"We'll look at the director general's report, and on that basis, what he's able to report in June, be able to decide, together with the rest of the board, what the next step is," Boucher told reporters.
Is it just Iran's nukes that really have the Administration saber rattling? The economy is very much tied into the situation in the Middle East, particularly with our heavy dependence on oil NOT just as in import or leverage against the newly industrializing nations of India or China, but also as currency.
Russia is contemplating trading its oil in Euro denominations. Likewise Iran. What this does is place inordinate pressure on other OPEC states to consider such a move, particularly in the light of a weakening dollar. Were that to happen, our economy would dot.com.
A brief economic overview and its grim outlook are detailed by Mike Whitney:
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The Bush Euro-junket is taking place just as the economic storm clouds are thickening over the Fatherland. On Tuesday the market plummeted another 175 points mainly due to soaring oil prices (tipping the $50 mark) and a surging Euro headed for the stratosphere. While Bush ambles around Europe waxing on about Camus and Voltaire, (I kid you not) America's tenuous economic plight is becoming alarmingly more apparent.
The world has taken stock of the administration's profligate spending and, now, Central Banks across the globe are shunning the dollar for the more stable Euro. The BBC says that a "poll carried out by Central Banking Publications found that 39 of the 65 banks surveyed were raising their Euro holdings, with 29 cutting back on the US dollar". Banks are voting with their feet, and the results may spell doom for the Bush plutocracy. As Paul Craig Roberts so aptly put it, "The world is tired of mopping up America's red ink".
At this point, it looks as though nothing short of an economic meltdown in America will deter from the administration from its war mongering Middle East. Barring economic catastrophe, the neocon juggernaut will blunder forward destroying everything its path; toppling both Syria and Iran and adding tens of thousands to the mounting death toll. It's better for the world and for that the 400 lb American Albatross dip below the waves on its way to Davy Jones Locker.