The Annapolis Middle East Conference, scheduled to begin tomorrow, has already accomplished something that has been difficult for the US to achieve in the past.  It has managed to irritate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hamas! 

The often bellicose Ahmadinejad has been whining to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah by telephone about the kingdom’s participation.  Hamas, an Iranian client organization and terrorist proxy, has announced a “counter-conference” in response to Annapolis.  (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and a few of their sympathizers are going to sit around for a couple hours and blame all of their problems on the US, Israel, and the International Zionist Conspiracy.  We suggest that an Arabic translation of It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to be used as the event’s theme song.)

(Agence France-Presse, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, al-Bawaba)

Yesterday was a “bad news day” for Iranian President Ahmadinejad as news of the 30,000 lbs “bunker buster” bomb became common knowledge with the funding requests to produce and deploy a weapon that has been under development for years. (Well, seriously under development since Clinton left office, when the term “penetration” resumed its primarily military, rather than sexual, significance when discussed in the Oval Office.) In a defense “supplemental” budget item, the B2 bomber would be retrofitted to deliver this weapon. Having a credible conventional weapons capability that could destroy underground nuclear facilities could be the “big stick” that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice needs to jump start serious negotiations.  (Fox video Special Report)

The Iranians are not a state I think that will change its behavior….just through talking to them.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Oct. 24, 2007

Naturally, the Democrats, and Ron Paul (R?-TX), are already complaining about this weapon and threatening to “defund” it. Why? Because, they are the Party of Defeat! Anything that could potentially contribute to a US victory in the War on Terror is an anathema to virtually every major Democratic Party leader, with the possible exception of Joe Lieberman, who was forced to run as an independent when challenged by a left-wing fringe candidate from within his own party.

This new weapon system would provide “strategic and tactical flexibility” for political and military leaders according to sources familiar with the capabilities of this “unconventional-conventional weapon.” There will be no need to “go nuclear” in order to terminate, or seriously degrade, Iran’s nuclear ambitions once this weapon system is deployed. It may even help our spineless European “allies” rapidly evolve into vertebrates with regards to their dealings with the religious dictatorship in Tehran. After all, an armed strike against Iran’s apocolyptic facilities would almost certainly degrade Iran’s ability to export oil. “Junkies” can become quite compliant when their “supply” is threatened.

While a single weapon system may not represent a military solution to the Iranian theocratic dictatorship’s intransigence in negotiations to end its nuclear weapons capability, it could certainly be the “catalyst” that results in a “paradigm shift” in our dealing with the current Iranian regime.

Oh, by the way, this is also a weapon that is rumored to be increasing UBL’s “pucker factor.” It’s hard to enjoy paradise with 72 virgins while you are entombed for eternity in a collapsed cave.

Secretary of State Rice’s and Secretary of Defense Gates’ recent visit to Russia was widely reported as confrontational and as having made little, or no, progress.  (See the links in our post, “Putin postures, Condi walks the line.”)  There were even reports of a new “cold war.”  But after the international press corps packed up and left Moscow, a different picture is now emerging.  Once again, the mainstream media’s reporting may be ”accuracy challenged.” 

Russia Profile has a series of columns today, in their “Weekly Experts Panel“ introduced by Vladamir Frolov and entitled: A New Opening in U.S.-Russia Relations?  The German news agency, DPA (Deutsche Presse Agentur), also released an op-ed today: “Russia says US suggestions on missile defence are ‘interesting’.”  Compare it to the Russian News Agency’s, Novosti, article.  They are well worth the clicks.

The Middle East is a difficult place to operate. The true allegiances and motives of the many players are difficult to ascertain — and frequently change. This makes accurate intelligence essential for administration officials, Dr. Rice among them. Vik Jolly of the O.C. Register wrote an article that appeared in today’s Sunday edition that illustrates this situation by highlighting the case of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (People’s Warriors, a.k.a. MEK), an organization that is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. In the past, they were accused of supporting the US Embassy take-over and killing US personnel in Teheran during the 1970’s. During the Iran-Iraq War they sided with Saddam and sought refuge in Iraq.

However, now the group’s members are living under US protection (some would say “custody”) in Camp Ashraf in Iraq after voluntarily disarming and being granted “protected person” status under the Geneva Convention. (Of course, the US is the only entity in Iraq that appears to paying any attention to the Geneva Convention.) In the United States, the group is represented by a diverse group of polished and politically astute individuals, and they have gotten the attention of some members of Congress — notably Tom Tancredo who are asking that the group’s listing as a terrorist group be re-examined. Mr. Jolly’s article focuses on Nasser Sharif, a former refugee turned beauty shop owner in Corona del Mar, California, who is an advocate for the MEK and says that they’re the key to regime change in Iraq. But others have serious doubts about the group’s support inside Iran and whether they are truly a better alternative to the current batch of mullahs running the country. (Although, it is hard to imagine a regime worse than the current one.)

Dealing with such complex situations must be challenging — even for our Secretary of State.

This WP piece by Glenn Kessler highlights the influence that Dr. Rice has attained in determining the course of U.S. Diplomacy:

A key factor in Bush’s decision yesterday is the influence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who announced the offer in a televised news conference. Since becoming secretary of state last year, Rice has worked assiduously to make certain that the United States does not maneuver itself into becoming the world’s enemy No. 1, as it did on the Iraq war.

When Rice made her first trip overseas as secretary last year, to Europe, she had expected to hear a lot of concern about Iraq. Instead, she later said, she was surprised to learn that the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program was a bigger concern — and that the United States was considered the problem.

She very quickly won Bush’s approval for a public shift in policy: active support of the European negotiating track. 

Looks like the MSM will not be able to keep ignoring Condi’s continuing accomplishments forever. 

Today, the UK’s left-leaning Guardian published an article by Simon Tisdale, Rice calls Iran’s bluff. It reports several interesting items and European perspectives surrounding the Iranian nuclear issue. Typical of journalists from the left, this article follows the pattern of attributing much of what they’re reporting about the Bush administration to internal power struggles and intrigue better suited to a Dallas re-run than the White House. The US offer to negotiate with Iran — which has little chance of being accepted at face value — was made, very loudly and very publicly, to allow the US to form a broad consensus for action. Without that consensus, the options left to the US involve unpalatable unilateral military actions such as blockades, strikes at suspected nuclear facilites, etc.

In another example of why Dr. Rice’s personal relationships with foreign leaders are so important to us as a nation, it is noteworthy that she made the initial public statements. The Russians, Chinese and Europeans saw someone from the administration, in whom they trust, in one clear, unequivocal statement bring everyone on the “international community” side to the same starting point when dealing with Iran — essentially saying, “You want to negotiate? Great! Stop enriching uranium and take a seat!” Up until now, attempts at negotiations have been futile, because there have been any number of countries, all with their own agendas, giving Iran plenty of “wiggle room” to continue on with their nuclear activities.

Now that the offer has been made, if it is rejected, the US will have a much stronger hand in asking, and getting, support for tougher action in the future.

Ms Rice said she had removed Iran’s “last excuse” for refusing a compromise….the US has taken ownership of the issue. From now on, it will lead from the front.

…western nations, plus Russia and China….will be much more likely to unite behind Washington in seeking coercive UN Security Council action against Tehran. Ms Rice will have achieved her “coalition of the willing”.

Condi will be interviewed tonight on CNN at 7pm Eastern as well as appearing on The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News.

—Thanks to Condiblog reader Julie Thompson for the tip!

Dr. Rice announced that the U.S. will engage in direct talks with Iran over their quest to obtain nuclear weapons if Iran suspends their enrichment program.

Since 9-11 the question put to the Muslim world has been, “If you’re a religion of peace, where are your condemnations of acts of terrorism, where are your angry mobs demanding justice for those killed in terrorist attacks.” Well, maybe, just maybe, progress is being made. (Or maybe it was there all along, but the mainstream media just chose to ignore it?) In any event, recently there have been small, but significant steps. The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported in an article yesterday that the Indonesian president had contacted Iran to pressure them to drop their nuclear ambitions — or at least live up to international treaty obligations.

Dr. Rice, reportedly, called to thank President Yudhoyono. Could this have been a dividend of Dr. Rice’s trip to Indosesia this past March? We keep talking about the importance of Condi’s personal relationships and why this is the reason she MUST be our President in 2008. These relationships, combined with Dr. Rice’s personal charisma, make her a national resource — essential in the War on Terror.

Next on the list of Moderate Muslim surprises this week, was the “about face” of the Saudis. This was little reported in the mainstream media other than this AP article. (What a shock!) Just two days after publicly expressing doubts about US foreign policy in the Middle East, Prince Saud al-Faisal came out of a White House diplomatic “tag team” match with none other the President and Dr. Rice and issued this conciliatory statement:

“I am fully convinced that the president is doing everything that he can to bring stability and security to the region of the Middle East.”

Again, Dr. Rice has taken the time and racked up the frequent flier miles to develop a relationship with the Saudis. This relationship is going to be key to US foreign policy in the Middle East. For example, without the Saudis on board, any aid cut-off to Hamas is going to be ineffective if the Saudis replace what the US and the Europeans take away. By the way, does anyone remember when Dr. Rice was being confirmed as Secretary of State (SoS) that many of her critics were saying that the Arab world wouldn’t respect a female SoS — or the United States if she were our top diplomat. Where are they now?

Middle East peace and stability are a long way off, but after this week it may be an inch, or two, closer.

Jay Evensen of Utah’s Deseret Morning News does.

There’s a positive portrayal of Condi’s role in the ongoing crisis, as well as a little blurb about the spread of blogging.

But perhaps the most important reality is that Iranian youths are on the Internet. They are reading and producing blogs. They know what’s going on.

It’s definitely worth a look.

Diplomacy is given another shot in the mounting Iran nuclear crisis. Hopefully this is the last step before the U.N. Security Council is forced to make a decision.

Every minute that passes is one minute closer that dangerous, straight from the 6th Century fanatics that run Iran are to possessing the means to finish the job that Adolf Hitler started.

The stakes cannot be higher.  

The AP video can be found here.

Dr. Rice discussed some details regarding the first correspondence between an Iranian leader and the U.S. Government in 27 years:

“This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort,” Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It isn’t addressing the issues that we’re dealing with in a concrete way.”

Rice’s comments were the most detailed response from the United States to the letter, the first from an Iranian head of state to an American president since the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

 

The countdown to a showdown continues…

More of the Condi interview can be found here.

Demanding that the U.N. serve its purpose in the world hasn’t exactly gone well for the U.S. lately.  But Condi is making an attempt in statements from Sophia, Bulgaria today. 

Condi continues her whirlwind schedule by departing Greece for Turkey. Iran’s nuclear ambitions are the focus of course.