"We're going to be trying new approaches because what we've tried has not worked, they are closer to nuclear weapons capacity today than they were," Clinton said.
...
"We must use what has been called 'smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural -- picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation," [Hillary] Clinton said in her opening remarks. "With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy."
How's that working for us Mrs. Clinton?
Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West.
The test stoked tensions between Iran and the West, which is pressing Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it showed the need for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran.
"This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions. We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves," Brown said after talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon in Copenhagen.
Wednesday's test was for the latest version of Iran's longest-range missile, the Sajjil-2, with a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers). That range places Israel, Iran's sworn enemy, well within reach, as well as U.S. bases in the Gulf region and parts of southeastern Europe.
The two-stage Sajjil-2 and is powered entirely by solid-fuel while the older, long-range Shahab-3 missile uses a combination of solid and liquid fuel in its most advanced form.
Iran has repeatedly warned it will retaliate if Israel or the United States carries out military strikes against its nuclear facilities, at a time when the U.S. and its allies accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the claim, saying its program is intended solely to generate electricity.
Nuclear negotiations have been deadlocked for months, with Iran equivocating over a U.N.-drafted deal aimed at removing most of its low-enriched uranium from the country so it would not have enough stockpiles to produce a bomb. The U.N. nuclear watchdog last month sharply rebuked Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.
State television broke the news in a one-sentence report accompanied by a brief clip of the test, showing the missile rising from the launch pad in a cloud of smoke.
Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi vowed that the Sajjil-2 would be a "strong deterrent" against any possible foreign attack. He said the new version can be fired more quickly and flies faster than previous ones making it harder to shoot down, though he did not give further details.
"Given its high speed," he said, speaking on state TV, "it is impossible to destroy the missile with anti-missile systems because of its radar-evading ability."
Couple that news with this news:
A confidential Iranian memo, which was acquired by The Times, suggests that Iranian scientists were working on nuclear bomb components in 2007. The Times says the obtained notes were written by the head of Iran’s covert nuclear programme. They give a detailed description of a four-year plan to test a ‘neutron initiator’, the part of a nuclear weapon that triggers the chain reaction leading to the actual explosion of a bomb. The report mentions the use of uranium deuteride (‘UD3’), which experts say has no other use than in nuclear weapons. UD3 is the substance that is used in Pakistan’s nuclear weapon, whence Iran got the blueprints for its own programme.
Governments or intelligence services have not yet confirmed the report, but the UN’s nuclear agency has judged it “consistent and compelling”. Diplomats have already commented that the document is another piece of evidence pointing towards Iran’s intentions.
Thankfully, smart diplomacy is being used to stymie and counter this threat.
You sleepin' better?
No sweat, we just need to "re-double our efforts" of diplomacy and sanctions. Right?
What say we put a time limit on diplomacy and sanctions like we did with the war in Afghanistan plan.
What say we give Achmed (the mad degenerate) say? Three weeks to either stop it? Or we turn Iran into a large parabolic mirror and use the solar heat from that to power up our ipod batteries.
Posted by: Locutisprime | Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 02:17 PM