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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (167022)	4/8/2003 5:07:33 PM
From: i-node	Respond to of 1580614

It would take so much time to dig up all the crap you've posted about Kosovo and how we had absolutely no reason to be there....at one time you even wrote that the US uses other countries for its benefit, or something very unseemly like that...now you are a humanitarian suddenly. Well, I dispute I have said what you've accused me of, so unless you can find it, you're wrong. I have repeatedly stated that we had no "national security interest" in Kosovo. I have never indicated we should not have been there. Please put up (provide a link) or withdraw the statement. Oh, hell, I don't care whether you withdraw it or not. I never said it.

To: Alighieri who wrote (167022)	4/9/2003 10:13:57 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1580614

Iran Likely to Face Rising Pressure TEHRAN (April 9) - Iran's joy at the likely fall of its hated neighbor Saddam Hussein is tempered by the realization that its other arch-foe, the United States, is likely to intensify pressure for change in the Islamic Republic. Washington, buoyed by military successes in quick succession against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam in Iraq, will turn the screws -- economic and diplomatic -- on other states it sees as a threat to world security, analysts and diplomats said. The fall of Saddam, who fired chemical weapons at Iran in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, will be a day ''of great joy for all Iranians,'' Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi told Reuters. But the speed and relative ease with which U.S. troops have taken control of Baghdad has many in Iran's clerical establishment looking nervously over their shoulders. ''The fact that Saddam has nearly been toppled in just 21 days is something that should concern all countries in this region,'' a senior adviser to Iran's government told Reuters. ''After this America has become a much more powerful nation,'' he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Iran is on Washington's ''axis of evil'' list and U.S. officials have issued stern warnings to the Islamic Republic that it must halt its alleged nuclear weapons program and backing for groups Washington deems ''terrorist'' organizations. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it only offers moral support to militant groups such as Lebanon's Hizbollah. Few in Tehran expect President George W. Bush to stage a military assault on Iran, which is one of the most democratic states in the Middle East. U.S. and British officials have denied Iran will face military action. FOCUS ON IRAN But Iran will be feeling more heat from Washington before long, analysts said. ''The U.S. has a lot on its plate right now but within six months to a year Washington's attention will be firmly focused on Iran,'' said a local political analyst. ''I expect the pressure to build and the main focus will probably be on the nuclear issue,'' he said. Some analysts do not rule out a tactical military strike against one of Iran's recently declared nuclear facilities, such as a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz which Iran says will provide fuel for an ambitious atomic energy program. But pressure, driven by powerful Israeli-supporting lobbies who see Iran as the biggest security threat in the Middle East, is likely to focus on trying to force it to sign up to more intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Economic avenues are also likely to be explored and the Pentagon has been considering blacklisting oil firms that invest in Iran from taking part in the reconstruction of Iraq's oil facilities, according to a recent Financial Times report. ''You may also see an effort to nurture and fortify some kind of opposition given the apparent frustration in Washington with (President Mohammad) Khatami's inability to take things forward,'' said the analyst. ''The problem is that, right now, there isn't really a viable opposition movement,'' he added. SOFTWARE VS. HARDWARE WAR Iranian officials refer to such U.S. tactics as a ''software'' war, as opposed to the ''hardware'' war of military confrontation. There are some tentative signs that the softer approach, backed by the big stick of military threat, has borne fruit. Heeding U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's warnings not to interfere in Iraq, Iran has barred many Iraqi Shi'ite militia from crossing to join the battle against Saddam. Diplomatic sources say Iran has intercepted at least one Iraqi boat laden with mines in the northern Gulf and handed over to Iraqi Kurds members of a radical Islamic group with alleged ties to al-Qaida when they tried to flee from northern Iraq. Iranian officials have been tight-lipped about such events. ''They are cooperating but they don't want to be seen to be cooperating, lest it damage their standing in the Islamic world,'' said a European diplomat in Tehran. Perhaps embarrassed by the virtual absence of antiwar sentiment on the streets of Tehran, hard-line organizations have held a number of antiwar rallies in recent days. Anti-U.S. rhetoric from the pulpits has also been ratcheted up with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comparing U.S. foreign policy to Adolf Hitler's Nazi rule. But behind the rhetoric is a realization that Iran will come under the spotlight once the war in Iraq is over. Abtahi said the best way to protect Iran from foreign intervention was to institutionalize democracy. That is a goal moderate President Khatami has pursued since his first landslide election in 1997, with mixed results in the face of resistance from hard-line opponents. ''We are hoping the other faction (hard-liners) accepts this to protect the revolution and the nation,'' Abtahi said. Reut06:32 04-09-03 Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.