1. Report that Bolton indicates the UNSC will send a “strong and
determined signal” to Tehran with regard the nuke fuel program. No
timetable. Recall that Bolton told me ten days ago that he is now
the prince of multi-lateralism. Bolton goes where France and
Britain and German lead, and he goes arm in arm with the reluctant
Russians. The Chinese are inscrutably silent, fretting about their
oil and gas supply line and all that cash they are slapping into
Tehran’s hands.
2. Report that Russian UN ambassador joked that unless the UNSC
slowed down with its pell-mell pace to demand an IAEA progress
report, the UNSC could get to Chapter 7 by June. (Chapter 7,
Article 42, of the UN Charter is the guns and guns and guns
option.)
3. Inside Iran, report that an Iranian general said that
“bandits” or “Rebels” attacked vehicles in the southeast of the
country and killed 22. This sounds like Baluchistan action, cross
border units fighting Pakistan for independence, willing to gun
down Iran also.
Reuters reported these same attackers identified themselves as a
Sunni rebel group. Report that the attack was on a provincial
governor’s convoy. Report that 22 KIA, seven taken hostage, in
order to bargain for release of members in Iran custody. Still
sounds like Baluchis. (Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed of
AlQ are Baluchis.)
4. Report that NSA Hadley opines the US-Iran talks are “a
device” to divert from the contest at the UNSC. This is saying the
obvious. Perhaps Hadley is ready to play the double game that is
required to maneuver in Persian waters.
5. Report that StateSec Rice says that the Khalilzad-Iran talks
over Iraq would not be “negotiations.” More double game talk. Say
the obvious, then do the obvious, then declare you are not doing
what you are doing. The mirrors within mirrors of diplomacy in the
Ummah.
6. Report that the US accuses Iran of meddling in Iraq, and that
Tehran was the author of “unhelpful activities” in Iraq. This is
Foggy Bottom speak for hostilities are underway, as in the Japanese
Empire is conducting “unhelpful activities” in Manchuria in
1941.
7. Report that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mottaki (this is a major
player, get used to his name: he speaks with and for Ahmadinejad,
and he is just as pious and fanatical and convinced as the Fuhrer)
is demanding a timeline for US withdrawal from Iraq. If this
reminds you of elements in the US poilitical apparatus, you are
hearing correctly. Iran will play divide and confuse games with the
peace now gang, with the momentum in the US to cut and run. Iran
does not actually want the US out — and knows that the Bush team
will not quit Iraq — because the US tied down with an Iran
generated civil war in Iraq is exactly in line with the Iran war
plan.
8. Report that Iran Ayatollah Jannali (understudy to Qom
lesdership) declares that Iran will never climb down from its nuke
program. He mentions the “dignity of Islam.” Read this as Iran
speak for full speed ahead. Reads this as the same as Japan
declaring that the USS Enterprise, sortied from Pearl, 1941, was
conducting “unhelpful activities” by looking for the Japanese
fleet.
9. Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council boss, the slick,
luminous, pious, multilingual and suicidal Larijani, accuses the US
of launching a “creeping regime change” in Iran. This is Tehran
Foggy Bottom speak for hostilities are underway. State’s forward
listening post for legals is at Dubai. State’s forward listening
post for illegals is at Baku. The number of Farsi speakers now on
contract with State and DOD is now officially a Most Secret.
10. Report that the US White House uses a presidential message
to commemorate the Iranian holiday of Nowruz: this is the Persian
new year. This is Foggy Bottom speak for we know what’s going on
even inside totalitarian tyrannies: it’s springtime.
11. Report that some oil cartels are suspending their big ticket
items in Iran, pending UNSC contest. This needs confirmation. And
what of China’s investment, what of Russia’s?
