Blowed Up

Some news that got ignored last week (other than Bush asking whip-girl Condi permish to go take a leak) was Bush's visit to the United Nations. During the brief meeting time between bathroom breaks, Bush worked at pissing off everyone else by trying to use the U.N. as a personal sledge hammer and having his dominatrix, Condi, threaten Iran.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the United Nations on Saturday to be tough with Iran over its nuclear ambitions but said there was still time for diplomacy to run its course.

Sound familiar? Whenever I hear that the Cheney administration wants to let "diplomacy run it's course" I know it means they're sharpening the sabre. As with most Bush "diplomatic moves" it won friends and influenced people:

The NYT is the only paper to front a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran Saturday where he said his country would not rein in their nuclear program. Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Ahmadinejad resisted what he qualified as bullying by the United States, and he maintained that Iran would not give up the "right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy." An unnamed White House official told the paper, "This doesn't help Iran's case."

Well....that went well. I suspect that the Iranians are well aware that the U.S. is overstretched in Iraq and highly unlikely to do much to back up those threats. Thanks to the wonderful liberty we've brought Iraq, the U.S. is a paper tiger...that is unless we're willing to institute a draft. Nothing like using a stick as your only diplomatic tool....even when it's a twig. Also,.... note to Bush. Iran is China's largest supplier of petroleum, and thus has a very slick and mutually beneficial relationship with the largest international holder of Bush's credit card.

But then there's also this on the U.N. summit:

However, diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity have revealed it was in fact President Bush who scuppered what the UN believed was a crucial move in helping make the world safer from the risk of terrorists obtaining a nuclear threat.

[...]

The row comes as the US and Britain attempt to have Iran referred to the UN security council if it does not stop uranium enrichment.

One diplomat said the US refused to accept the 'logical premise' that it must engage in disarmament if it does not to want to encourage a 'new nuclear arms race'.

This is something that has puzzled me for sometime and throughout several administrations. Given that the United States is the largest arms supplier in the world, and the has the largest stockpile of nuculur weapons in the world (and developing more!), can we really demand others disarm?

I'm not in favor of anyone having WMD. And I'm certainly not crazy about some fundamentalist Ayotollah having his finger on any button. But this is exactly the situation in Pakistan. And what about India, China, Israel, Russia and (as Carlos Santana would say) who knows who? Oh, and how comfortable am I, right about now, knowing that BUSH has his finger on the button? Knowing him, he'd accidently push it thinking it's a pretzel dispenser.

The mayberry machiavellians are about as effective at diplomacy as a kindergartners fighting for turf in a sandbox. If the U.S. is really serious about stopping nuclear proliferation, we're going to have to realize that we have to be willing to give up some firepower. If we did, there wouldn't be in any real dimunition of our ability to protect ourselves, given our other "weapons". A reduction of American arms would go a long way to showing some real international leadership (and credibility) on reducing the international nuclear threat. Would it guarantee that idiots dictators won't still want nuclear weapons? No. But it would go a long way towards convincing the international audience to join us in limiting such weapons to rogue nations.

Thus far, all Bush has accomplished is to prove to every two bit thug that they too need the bomb to keep the U.S. from invading, thus escalating nuclear proliferation. If ever there was a poster child for the concept of unintended consequences, it would be Bush and his foreign policy. It really is crucial that we get adults.....hell even Republican adults....back in charge before we all go to hell in a handbasket.