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Sanctions the best way to crush Ahmedinijad - for now

Michael Danby

by Michael Danby

12 Oct 05:40am

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Filed under: Iran, Iran Nuclear Program, Iran Sanctions, Nuclear Power, President Ahmedinejad, Terrorism

35 comments

We have all met “truthers”. You know, the kind of conspiracy theorist who believes that every evil event was concocted at a secret military facility in the basement at Fort Dix, Georgia, or some such place.

Demented: Ahmedinejad registers as a candidate for the 2009 elections. Photo: AP

Last week Iran’s President Ahmedinejad’s appeared before the UN General assembly. He told the assembled leaders that most of the world believed that the US government was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Centre in 2001.

So now we have the phenomenon of a national leader as a “truther”. Ahmedinijad’s bizarre speech – the latest in a long series – gives an important insight into the nature of the regime in Tehran, a regime which may soon have its finger on the bomb.

Back in the real world, following the passage of UN Security Council resolution supporting sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program, countries around the world are passing even tougher sanctions against the Iranian regime.

UN SC resolution 1929 was supported by all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including China and Russia, who many thought would abstain or vote against further sanctioning of Tehran. In addition Russia, who has sold Iran more than $5 billion in military hardware over the past decade to Iran, announced last week that it would be halting all sales of sophisticated weaponry.

Years of negative assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency and repeated threats in UN security council resolutions have not brought about any changes in Iran’s behaviour. Now, tougher sanctions by the G20 members on Iran’s banking, insurance and transport are seen as a last resort to prevent the theocratic regime in Tehran acquiring atomic weapons.

The most significant of these national initiatives was comprehensive US legislation designed to punish foreign firms that invest in Iran’s energy industry or provide the country with refined petroleum.

Congress requires that companies which violate these stipulations be publicly cited. This has clear naming-and-shaming effect. Senator John McCain said that companies faced a clear choice: “Do you want the business with Iran, or do you want to do business with the United States?”

Last month Japan announced that it was suspending new oil and gas investments in Iran and freezing the assets of 88 Iranian connected organisations and 24 individuals. Estimates are that Japanese sanctions against the country could reduce Iran’s crude exports by twenty-five percent.

For its part, the European Union – Iran’s largest trading partner – recently implemented a wide range of sanctions covering trade, energy investment and financial arrangements with Iran. Again, surprisingly, Russia’s President Medvedev went beyond sanctions on Iran by refusing to provide the Iranian regime with advanced (and contracted) air defence missile systems.

Oil exports are the life-blood of the Iranian regime, accounting for about half of all government revenues. But its weak domestic refining capacity means that Tehran has to reimport 30 to 40 percent of its refined petrol. Further, there are certain kinds of equipment and technology required for oil and gas development that Iran can only purchase from the West. If it wants to reduce its technical dependence, Tehran may have to eventually make concessions in order to remove the restrictions of trade and investment in these areas.

The reintroduction, with expected bi-partisan support, of Australia’s Autonomous Sanctions Legislation to Parliament last week indicates the seriousness in which Australia takes the threat Iran nuclear poses to the world.

Australia has also imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas sector. Our new sanctions target are a further 98 companies and 12 individuals involved in Iran’s financial and transport sector. New measures also include a trade ban on arms-related material and dual-use technologies for likely biological weapons development. Recently Sydney based engineering contractor Wolsey Parsons , who provide engineering support to Iran’s LNG sector, announced that it will not accept anymore work in Iran.

Earlier this year, prior to the passage of Australia’s Autonomous Sanctions Legislation, using powers afforded to then Defence Minister, John Faulkner, under the Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act, blocked and issued prohibition orders to three companies which sought to export goods that could be used in the development, production, acquisition or stockpiling of weapons.

There are signs that the latest round of sanctions are beginning to bite. Living costs in Iran are skyrocketing and unemployment has reached 30 percent in certain areas. Iran’s currency, the rial, had plunged by 20% at the end of last week.

The question is, will sanctions imposed on Iran force it to comply with the UN Security Council, and stop its march towards war? We may have slightly more time than was thought.

Recently, Stuxnet, a cyber worm that experts say maybe the world’s first known cyber missile designed to destroy real world targets, was detected in several computers at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. What is so astonishing is this malware virus is mainly targeted at industrial equipment produced by Siemens that control oil pipelines, electric utilities and nuclear facilities in Iran. While the cyber worm has been detected in Indonesia, Pakistan and India, a disproportionate number of computers in Iran have been infected with the worm. No-one knows who is targeting Iran’s facilities in this way – but we can guess.

Sanctions on Iran and ingenious cyber warfare attacks maybe retarding Iranian nuclear proliferation activities, but we shouldn’t underestimate the continuing danger Iran poses to the region. Dr Mike Kelly MP, Australia’s former Parliamentary Secretary of Defence, put it bluntly in speaking to Australia’s Autonomous Sanctions Legislation: Iran “has played a very bad faith role in its promotion of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and, of course, Hamas in the Gaza strip.” He made the salient point that Iran’s continued support of terrorist organisations, its massive human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture and beatings, demonstrates the nature of the threat the Tehran regime poses to the world.

There is little enthusiasm in war-weary Western countries for military intervention to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program. However the time gained by economic sanctions and technological interference with the program may give the sanction program force to bring about policy change in Tehran. Obviously it is best if this can be achieved without military intervention from outside. But no-one should underestimate the continuing, clear and present danger that the Iranian regime, it’s demented president and its nuclear ambitions pose to world peace. This story is far from over.

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35 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • TimB says:

      05:34am | 12/10/10

      Not to take anything away from the article (which is a good one), but does anyone else think that Ahmedinejad looks a little bit like Matty Johns?

      Reply

    • Rachel says:

      07:05am | 12/10/10

      Absolutely!!

    • Peter says:

      07:09am | 12/10/10

      You know what?  I’ve never seen Ahmedinejad and Johns in the same room together.  I think you might be on to something here…

    • Baal says:

      07:49am | 12/10/10

      You are right, it is the smile. Wierd

    • Eskimo says:

      08:22am | 12/10/10

      I was just thinking the same thing.

    • bella starkey says:

      08:50am | 12/10/10

      I always thought he looks like a mexican pop star.

    • Ivor Biggen. says:

      09:45am | 12/10/10

      Never heard of him, is he a terrorist too?

    • Pugilist says:

      02:25pm | 12/10/10

      Let’s give Mr Armour Dinner-Jacket a show of his own. It would be much funnier than the Matty Johns show.

    • T.Chong says:

      07:30am | 12/10/10

      Micheal, you are a champion of democracy , openess and accountability ?
      How about , then , a truly theocratic nation, where all the non believing citizens are now coerced into pledging allegiance to the state / theocracy.?
      Sounds crazy, and undemocratic ? Well Mick,it gets worse.
      This theocracy I speak of has a very large part of the population who actually believe a god has chosen them specially to save.
      Did I also mention that this theocracy has nuclear weapons ?
      Scary combination of religios zealots and nuclear weapons , is it not ?
      What do you have to say about the nuclear armed theocracy of Israel , Mick,?
      What did the IAEA say when Israel last permitted inspections of their US supplied nuclear weapons?
      Blinkered much, Mick?

      Reply

    • StolenGeneration says:

      09:39am | 12/10/10

      That might well be the case. However, when I last checked, Israel was not threatening to wipe a nation off the map - not even Iran.

      There is one other aspect you might like to think about. “This theocracy I speak of has a very large part of the population who actually believe a god has chosen them specially to save.” They do have some justification for this view.

    • Greg says:

      11:01am | 12/10/10

      No, Israel is not threatening wipe a nation off the map - it is actually in the process of doing it, as can be seen with illegal occupation of Palestine.

      As for being allegedly being “god’s chosen people”, what is the difference between claiming that and claiming to be “the master race”?

    • Luce says:

      11:09am | 12/10/10

      T.Chong, while Israel might be refusing to freeze settlements, and yeah they did use a bit much force during their invasion of Gaza, you still don’t hear their president going on unstable, racist, bigoted rants to other world leaders about how they are going to wipe another country off the map as soon as they acquire nuclear weapons. You don’t hear about Israel’s government stealing an election by fraud and then torturing and executing those citizens who tried to protest for the right to have their vote counted. You don’t hear about Israeli oppression of women, forcing them to cover up with the threat of being arrested if they don’t. You don’t hear about Israelis living abroad being harassed by the Israeli government for expressing anti-Israeli views in public.

      Israel on the other hand, while often accused of being a theocracy, is officially a secular democratic republic. Religion definitely plays a significant cultural role in their society, however the government draws no legal or official power from religion or the church. Unlike Iran, who’s supreme leader / head of state is not actually their president, but an Islamic cleric.

      Freedom House, an independent research body and watchdog for human rights globally, in their 2010 “Freedom in the World” report declared Iran to have one of the worst ratings for civil liberties and political rights (both received a score of 6, where 1 is the best and 7 is the worst), beaten only by countries like Afghanistan and Sudan. Israel, conversely, scored 1 for political rights and 2 for civil liberties, scores which are on par with most western, first world countries.

      You honestly think Israel is more scary then Iran? Seriously?

    • Nafe says:

      11:15am | 12/10/10

      Stolen Generation, I think you are a little Nieve. Loot at the horror Israel is doing to the Palestinians, What about their heavy handed attacks on Lebanon, What about their use of force against aid ships into Palistine.

      They may not be Nuking other countries but they sure are performing many more attrocities than the Iranian Government.

      Iran has the right to stockpile weapons for its own protection against Israel. It is israel who has numerous times encouraged USA to attack iran. I just hope that the USA shows restraint on the war issue with Iran.

      It is time the USA and the west got out of the Iran self defence plans and just let them go about their everyday business. While Iran’s major threat has Nuclear weapons and this threat has been knows for its heavy handed warmongering, why shouldn’t Iran be allowed the same technology if they are producing it themselves?

      People tend to overlook Irael and side with them due to their unfortunate past, but the fact is they have no interest in a peace process in the middle east and they are antagonising their neighbours the Palistinians with settlements etc.

      Why is it that Hammas is a terrorist organisation, who are only trying to protect the Palistinian land while Israel and the USA (and the west) are not terrorist states for their crippiling of the Irasian economy, invading 2 middle East states.

      To the people of the Middle east, the West is the Axis of Evil, and its easy to understand why with the way the west is treating them.

    • Isaac Balbin says:

      11:21am | 12/10/10

      T. Chong is being disingenuous. I’m not sure if he’s doing it on purpose. He should be informed that Israel is not a theocracy, and that the allegiance to a “Jewish” State is akin to allegiance to an “Australian” State.  There is no notion of allegiance to religion therein and furthermore it is being sponsored by a party that is decidedly not religious. It is, however, designed to ensure that the country doesn’t become an “Arab” State. Why? Because there are heaps of them. Is that the primordial sin that occupies Mr Chong’s theocratic notions and disturbs him so much?

      As to Ahmadinajad, it is well known that he and his countries theocracy would be defeated in truly democratic elections and that his own people are terrified by their government.

    • Katie says:

      04:16pm | 12/10/10

      Isaac Balbin, who’s being disingenous now? To say that a ‘Jewish’ state is the same as being as an “Australian” State is absurd nonsence. Australian does not refer to religion or culture, but simply the nation that we are. Jewish specifically refers to a religion. If Israel allows this pledge to go through, they will become a theocracy regardless of what you think. ‘There is no notion of allegiance to religion’ is simply nonsence.

      Furthermore, the government may not be religious but they are in bed with religious extremists.

      “It is, however, designed to ensure that the country doesn’t become an “Arab” State. Why? Because there are heaps of them.”

      This is bad because? If Israel is a proper democracy it should accept whatever it becomes based on its demogaphics. It is either a democracy or a Jewish state. It can not be both.

    • marley says:

      07:58pm | 12/10/10

      @ Katie - and either Iran is a democratic state or a Shia state. It cannot be both.  And good luck with telling that to the Ayatollahs.

    • Perspective Please says:

      08:01pm | 12/10/10

      I wish T Chong, Greg and the other Pro Palestinians would get over their anti semitism and start focusing their warped sense of outrage on the real horrors perpetrated by Muslims on other Muslims, like the enslavement & murder of Black Muslims by Arab Muslims in Sudan and other Nth African countries or the wholesale slaughter of innocent Muslims such as the Hazara in Afghanistan by Al- Qaeda and the Taliban.
      In fact one only has to look at the complete lack of concern and rank indifference of the Arab world to the Palestinians in real terms, to realise that Israel has done & is doing, far more for the welfare of Palestinians than their fellow Muslims ever have and ever will.
      The truth is that the entire Muslim world seems to get off on one group of Muslims persecuting a less powerful group of Muslims & both of those groups of Muslims will then unite to persecute non -Muslims.
      Of course T. Chong and others like her are blind to the genocide and prejudice practiced everyday in the Islamic world especialy the kind perpetrated by President AHMYGODHESMAD of Iran.

    • Katie says:

      10:43pm | 12/10/10

      marley says: “@ Katie - and either Iran is a democratic state or a Shia state. It cannot be both.  And good luck with telling that to the Ayatollah”

      When did I mention Iran? Perhaps before you put words in people’s mouths, you could try reading their posts.

    • Dan says:

      11:01pm | 12/10/10

      Perspective Please:

      ” I wish T Chong, Greg and the other Pro Palestinians would get over their anti semitism”

      What makes you think that those who are pro Palestinian are anti semitic? Does that mean that who are pro Israeli are Islamophobic?

      There is nothing wrong with being pro Palestinian. It simply means that one doesn’t hate them. You should try not hating.

      ” and start focusing their warped sense of outrage on the real horrors perpetrated by Muslims on other Muslims, like the enslavement & murder of Black Muslims by Arab Muslims in Sudan and other Nth African countries or the wholesale slaughter of innocent Muslims such as the Hazara in Afghanistan by Al- Qaeda and the Taliban.”

      There are plenty of horrors in the world perpetruated by non-Muslims, or do your warped sense of outrage only cover acts committed by Muslims? Furthermore, many of the acts you refer to have nothing to do with religion. They are about power and territory.

      ” In fact one only has to look at the complete lack of concern and rank indifference of the Arab world to the Palestinians in real terms, to realise that Israel has done & is doing, far more for the welfare of Palestinians than their fellow Muslims ever have and ever will.”

      Right, whatever you say. Except what concern do you have? You are yet to show that you have any concern other than to use the Palestinians as a way to perpetruate your hatred of Muslims.

      “The truth is that the entire Muslim world seems to get off on one group of Muslims persecuting a less powerful group of Muslims & both of those groups of Muslims will then unite to persecute non -Muslims.”

      You really are mad. And paranoid. The entire Muslim world seems to get off on this? Uh, no. You’re projecting. You obviously get off Muslims being persecuted, so you’re projecting it onto Muslims.  You are definitely an Islamophobe. The truth is that ’ the entire Muslim world’ does not get off on any violence, and the only people who do so are people such as yourself.

      As for uniting to persecute non-Muslims, you are so paranoid it’s incredible. Tell me, when you go to bed at night, do you check to see if there are Muslims under your bed?
       
      “Of course T. Chong and others like her are blind to the genocide and prejudice practiced everyday in the Islamic world especialy the kind perpetrated by President AHMYGODHESMAD of Iran.”

      Who’s that? Also what genocide is practised daily? Before you throw around hyperbolic terms, you should probably do your research.

      BTW, who started the Iraq war? Or in your perverted black + white world, are non-Muslims not capable of horrors at all? You are incredible. Do us a favour and don’t try to defend Israel. Israel doesn’t need ignorant Islamophobes as ‘friends.’

    • Dan says:

      11:01pm | 12/10/10

      Perspective Please:

      ” I wish T Chong, Greg and the other Pro Palestinians would get over their anti semitism”

      What makes you think that those who are pro Palestinian are anti semitic? Does that mean that who are pro Israeli are Islamophobic?

      There is nothing wrong with being pro Palestinian. It simply means that one doesn’t hate them. You should try not hating.

      ” and start focusing their warped sense of outrage on the real horrors perpetrated by Muslims on other Muslims, like the enslavement & murder of Black Muslims by Arab Muslims in Sudan and other Nth African countries or the wholesale slaughter of innocent Muslims such as the Hazara in Afghanistan by Al- Qaeda and the Taliban.”

      There are plenty of horrors in the world perpetruated by non-Muslims, or do your warped sense of outrage only cover acts committed by Muslims? Furthermore, many of the acts you refer to have nothing to do with religion. They are about power and territory.

      ” In fact one only has to look at the complete lack of concern and rank indifference of the Arab world to the Palestinians in real terms, to realise that Israel has done & is doing, far more for the welfare of Palestinians than their fellow Muslims ever have and ever will.”

      Right, whatever you say. Except what concern do you have? You are yet to show that you have any concern other than to use the Palestinians as a way to perpetruate your hatred of Muslims.

      “The truth is that the entire Muslim world seems to get off on one group of Muslims persecuting a less powerful group of Muslims & both of those groups of Muslims will then unite to persecute non -Muslims.”

      You really are mad. And paranoid. The entire Muslim world seems to get off on this? Uh, no. You’re projecting. You obviously get off Muslims being persecuted, so you’re projecting it onto Muslims.  You are definitely an Islamophobe. The truth is that ’ the entire Muslim world’ does not get off on any violence, and the only people who do so are people such as yourself.

      As for uniting to persecute non-Muslims, you are so paranoid it’s incredible. Tell me, when you go to bed at night, do you check to see if there are Muslims under your bed?
       
      “Of course T. Chong and others like her are blind to the genocide and prejudice practiced everyday in the Islamic world especialy the kind perpetrated by President AHMYGODHESMAD of Iran.”

      Who’s that? Also what genocide is practised daily? Before you throw around hyperbolic terms, you should probably do your research.

      BTW, who started the Iraq war? Or in your perverted black + white world, are non-Muslims not capable of horrors at all? You are incredible. Do us a favour and don’t try to defend Israel. Israel doesn’t need ignorant Islamophobes as ‘friends.’

    • chop says:

      05:14pm | 08/09/11

      That nails it right on the head T.Chong
      Me thinks ol’ Mickey boys loyalty is firmly planted in Israel who is basically praying on human decency by manipulating Western govenments and trying to drag us into a war with islam whilst any criticism of their war crimes are hushed in a shroud of ‘anti-semetic’ paranoia.

    • Reg says:

      07:48am | 12/10/10

      The ruthless repression of the people of Iran by their government, has some nasty echos in the past.  It’s to be hoped that the modern world has learned that delay and inertia is exactly what the Iranians expect as they build on their plans for religious dominance.

      The Iranian government can no more allow internal dissent than the Communists or the Nazis could. Not if they wish to succeed with their plans to spread their equally narrow doctrine.  Democracy is their sworn enemy for this very reason.

      Reply

    • Shane says:

      09:25am | 12/10/10

      Michael, Ahmedinejad never said that he believed that 9/11 was self-inflicted. You have taken up the baton from popular media and run with his. Ahmedinejad outlined three competing theories as to who was behind 9/11.
      1. Al-Quaida
      2. US Government
      3. Some other group with US knowledge (if not consent).

      That is what he actually said, and you know what? He’s right. Those ARE the three prevailing theories. Obviously option one is what most rational people accept as fact. Options two and three are left-field. But the man didn’t accuse the US of orchestraing 9/11… he said that was one theory, and he’s right.

      Where he lost us was claiming that “most nations around the world” subscribe to option two. THAT is incorrect.

      Ahmedinejad has been turned into a bogey-man by the West, and frankly it’s a little sad that we need a borderline-sociopath to make ourselves feel better. For instance, the reaction to his “wipe Israel off the map” speech was predictably skewed. I would guess he was alluding to the supposed illegality of the state of Israel. But the media pick it up and run with it, and now every time he’s mentioned he’s accused of saying “I want nukes to go get the Jews” when what he said was much more reasonable (although admittedly undiplomatic).

      Reply

    • Zaf says:

      10:00am | 12/10/10

      Of course, let’s use sanctions, because they worked so well in Iraq….

      ???

      Reply

    • Zeta says:

      11:07am | 12/10/10

      Before you get into the question of thermite in WTC centre dust, the sketchy circumstances surrounding the WTC7 collapse, the eye witness accounts of explosions, the lack of evidence of a plane crash at the Pentagon - before you delve into tin foil hat territory, just read the 9/11 Commission report.

      They agree, the US Government was responsible for the 9/11 World Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks.

      You got a regime, funded, trained and armed by the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1980s and early 1990s who give shelter to a terrorist group that was armed and trained by the CIA during the Soviet invasion - then you got those same terrorists coming to the United States, training to carry out an audacious terror attack right under the noses of the most sophisticated intelligence aparatus in the history of the world.

      You know, if you leave your door unlocked and you get robbed, you’re not responsible. But if you drive over to a known criminals house in the middle of the night, break in, wake him up, give him a crow bar, directions to your house, detailed information about what’s inside that he might like to steal and then give him a head start - you’re responsible.

      I don’t know about every one else - but if the Cold War didn’t end, if those tanks had have rolled straight through Afghanistan and taken over the rest of the world - I’d be totally cool with it knowing what the alternative is now. The Soviet Union was a bad, bad place. Islamic Fundamentalism is worse. For Christ’s sake we should have been helping the Russians! Screw you Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts you were arming the wrong people Charlie Wilson, you insipid loon! 

      And now the clown brigade trots out into the three rings circus, with another tut tuting arm chair Henry Kissinger and we get the answer, from on high, ‘more sanctions! everything can be solved with sanctions’ But wait a minute…. didn’t the US install this Government in the first place? You got Iran, you got this liberalising monarchy, then BOOM, you got a fundamentalist hot bed of hate lead by a crazy exiled mullah who was too nutty for the Shi’a nut jobs in Qom, let alone the kind of guy who should be leading a country - and what a conincidence, the CIA and MI6 have their dirty fingerprints all over it, you got Carter backing down on military intervention, you got Ahmendinijad - what was he doing at the time? Oh yeah, working for a CIA backed student organisation.

      So kick the ballistics - the US and the UK install a puppet regime with one hand while giving aid to the ‘pro demoracy’ forces with the other, who topple the monarchy and become fundamentalist theocratic dictators, while we’re training the guy who’ll one day be nut job number one, and then our answer to the problem is economic sanctions? Because that worked for Saddam?

      If we stopped trying to manipulate the Middle East, maybe this wouldn’t happen. I don’t know, maybe Afghanistan would have become a Russian territory, then Kabul would have schools, hospitals, ugly apartment buildings and bad hair cuts instead of bombs, extra judicial killings, and stonings. Then maybe the Shah could have lead a slowly modernised regime, and the Ayatollah wouldn’t have had highly trained Feyadeen to help him take over because they’d all have been killed by the Russians. Iraq would then have lost the Iran-Iraq war, the Shah would have their oil fields, Saddam would be dead, and by 1991 Kuwait wouldn’t have been invaded.

      Sure, this rose tinted view of an alternative 1980s sans CIA shenanigans hinges on Israel not bombing anyone, but you can’t control everything.

      Reply

    • Truth revealed says:

      07:19am | 13/10/10

      Zeta, pop a chill pill and i’ll give you the low down on whats gone down. Its not the Zionists, Yanks, Poms or the Masons who are the real villains behind all this drama of the last 60 years, no sirree, its really the New Zealanders!. 
      How do I know this?, I mean look at look at them over there, pretending to be the nice guys of the world, no one suspects that such nice people with such funny accents are capable of being the architects of the worlds misery, but they are. here’s proof,
                  Their National colour is Black the symbol of evil,
                  Their national animal is the Kiwi with a long nose to
                  pry into & manipulate the unsuspecting &
                  the final proof, the Haka war dance!.
      I told you it was shocking but now that you are aware, you can be on your guard when you go to Bondi.

    • Philip Mendes says:

      11:36am | 12/10/10

      Good article Michael. Some of the Iranian refugees in Australia tell me that many of the Hezbollah leaders actually spent most of the 1980s living and training in Iran, and are regarded as Iranians rather than as Arabs by many of their countrymen and women. This is why they are so subordinate to the extremist agendas of the Iranian theocracy.

      PM

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      12:48pm | 12/10/10

      For now, yes, but he’s gotta go, preferebly soon. The US may respond to Iran depending on developments in Iraq, where the Iran is starting to meddle.
      Mr. beady eyes is just no good, and if Israel gets the green light from Barack Obama, we shouldn’t worry too much. (Actually, this may work in Palestine’s favour.)

      Reply

    • Leto says:

      02:03pm | 12/10/10

      If you beat a dog repeatedly with a stick, the dog isn’t going to like people.

      We have been beating Iran with a stick for a very long time, heck, the US and UK even orchestrated the overthrowing of the only democratically elected government they had!

      The sooner Iran get nuclear weapons, the sooner foreign powers will stop trying to play god with their country.

      What you argue for, Mr Michael Danby, is simply a bigger stick.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      03:06pm | 12/10/10

      Sanctions harm innocent people. If Iran is not the democracy we say it’s not, then why harm its people?

      Reply

    • N says:

      03:22pm | 12/10/10

      I struggle to believe that placing ever restrictive sanctions on Iran is supposed to be a good thing. While I don’t like the current Iranian government, there are plenty of other governments around the world that fall into the same category, but receive no attention in comparison to Tehran. I guess there is no oil in Central / Northern Africa, but that’s another discussion…..

      Consider for a moment what we are actually doing to Iran by imposing these sanctions:
      Directly contributing to high unemployment, directly contributing to high cost of living and devaluing the currency, as quoted by this article.

      Now, you take a nation with the largest army in the Middle East and piss them off by making living near impossible and you end up with a similar situation to Afghanistan and Iraq, whereby you have a populous totally disillusioned, angry and violent. While there is no excuse for the brutal human rights violations in Iran, the UN’s contribution by placing restrictive sanctions on the country will make said violations pale in comparison.

      I’m not sure how “they’ve got nuclear weapons / WMDs” calling will go this time around to get endorsement for war against Iran, especially when the same line was a complete fraud in the latest Iraq war. Would be a real shame if this boy who cried wolf scenario played out in full and Iran did push the button on a nuke….

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      03:57pm | 12/10/10

      Just like Iraq, hey? That worked out GREAT!

      Reply

    • Tony McAdamocash says:

      09:29pm | 12/10/10

      Iran is a menace to its near neighbours and to the oil supplies that fuel most of the world. Sanctions will probably not achieve much but are a legitimate first step.

      The people of Iran need to remove Ahmadinejad and the mad terror-exporting theocratic regime. I remain confident they will.

      Iran had so much going for it prior to the “Revolution” - it is now a joke. An oil-rich country that has to import petrol. A once-modern nation with relative gender equality now enslaves women and gives them the same legal rights as cattle. Its principal way of influencing events around the world is funnelling loot to psychopaths in Lebanon or Gaza to attack civilians. They are not exactly high-flyers.

      If they don’t, the West has proven that it can and will intervene to remove genocidal tyrants.

      Iran is taking a huge gamble by allowing this unacceptable situation to continue. Betting on US and world inaction could cost them plenty.

      If Israel’s safety is threatened, and it certainly looks like that’s Iran’s intention based on its president’s mad statements, then I think the US - even under Obama - would crush them like a bug.

      The fact that Iran’s media and much of the Arab world is full of sick “Truther” conspiracy theories just speaks to how deep their hatreds can be. We know they hate us. What they need to know is that while the West doesn’t hate them back, when the time comes we will clench our fist and punch Irano-fascism right on the nose.

    • Marilyn says:

      10:42pm | 12/10/10

      Iran is not actually doing anything to anyone, Israel is illegally occupying Palestine and slaughtering the civilians to steal all of the land and they have been for over 60 years.

      Danby is a prat and zionist shill for Israel and nothing more.

      Diaspora jews like Danby are an embarrassment to everyone, the man was born in Australia years after the end of the war but carries on like he survived the holocaust.  Same with the dickhead Bibi who grew up in the US with an arab hating father, Peres who grew up in Palestine after getting there in 1934, like Richard Pratt who then pretended he was another survivor.

      Last time I looked people actually have to either be in the field or born to have survived atrocities.

      Livni is no better, her father was the leader of a major terrorist squad, as was Olmerts.

      They are all Polish by the way except for Leiberman who is from Moldova.

      And Tony, you are a real jerk.  Irano-facism?  What bullshit.  When Iranian refugees come here and ask for our help we concentrate millions of dollars to lock them up for months and years on end before trying to send them home.

      Reply

    • chop says:

      12:04pm | 24/10/11

      Michael Danby (author of the above article) is yet another Zionist Jew that has infiltrated our political system to sprout hate propaganda towards Iran and Islam in general and draw us into another major war that will be a friggin’ entry into WW3.

      These agents here and abroad that have absolute loyalty to Israel whilst pretending to have western interests at heart are the worst of the worst.
      You now have the same Zionist PNAC Jews that created the campaign for war with Iraq (Richard Pearle, Douglas Feith, William Kristol, Robert Kagan to name a few) now banging their drums for blood in Iran.

      WAKE UP people before we are led into an unnecessary nuclear war.

      All Jews in political postions are loyal to only Israel and have no problem instituting their tyrannical madness onto previously civilised society.

      I only hope we can eliminate their influence on our foreign policy before the lesson is learnt to late.

      Reply
 
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