Gonna be a quick diary as I haven't much time right now, but this report from the Asia Times Online is reporting a VERY serious development in the stand off with Iran.
Seems Russia has decided to step up the resistance for a direct attack upon Iran. Go below for excerpts and link...
A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear strike, against Iran.
An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia.
This is pretty damn serious I'd say. When I caught this story, my jaw dropped. I wonder if it will produce the desired effect of shocking the Bush administration and the blood-thirsty bastards in it or support of it and hold off any possible attack.
You can pick up the full story...
Attack Iran and you attack Russia By Pepe Escobar
But there's a ray of hope in there too from what I can tell... It might just be, that Russia and Putin, might be able to accomplish what the EU and the US has thus far, failed miserably. Namely, a halt to enrichment...
Iranian hawks close to Ahmadinejad are spinning that Putin's proposal involves Iran temporarily suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for no more United Nations sanctions. That's essentially what International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad ElBaradei has been working on all along.
What, oh what will our friendly neighborhood neocon's to do? Should Russia be successful in bringing about the settlement they've been hoping for, the effectiveness of UN conflict resolution efforts and negotiation will look like a MUCH better option and an effective one.
It would repudiate the hard-line the right has stood upon, insisting no negotiations will work and we must bomb the hell out of them.
It could quite likely be the final nail in the coffin for the Bush presidency.
Of course... it could also spur them on to doing something even MORE monumentally stupid than invading Iraq. We could end up back to a staring contest with Russia or, heaven forbid, worse.