Naivety, Thy Name Is Obama

President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, and the two talked about the various problems in the Middle East. As expected, the bulk of the conversation dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the problems with Iran.

Netanyahu said that "he was ready to resume peace talks with the Palestinians immediately but said any agreement depended on their acceptance of Israel's right to exist."

I can accept that, because it makes sense. Why should the Palestinian state issue be a one-way street? Israel is the one with the country, after all; the Palestinians can't dictate to them what they want or should get. Netanyahu did not, however, "say he was ready to negotiate a so-called two-state solution" with the Palestinians. The two-state solution calls for the creation of a Palestinian state next to Israel, and is supported by the US and a number of other countries. Again, this goes back to the Palestinians and the need for them to stop wanting to destroy Israel. The Palestinians have the Gaza strip, essentially their own territory, already; it's not Israel's fault that the Palestinians elected Hamas as their governing body. Israel must defend itself, first and foremost. An official Palestinian state is secondary. If the Palestinians can stop Hamas and the other resident terrorists from attacking Israelis on a regular basis, they may have a case for their own state. Right now it appears they can't handle the responsibility.

Concerning Iran, President Obama said, "he expects a positive response from his diplomatic outreach to Iran on stopping its nuclear program by the end of the year. The president said the United States wanted to bring Iran into the world community, but declared 'we're not going to have talks forever.'"

I think Obama is overestimating his persuasive abilities here. The leadership of Iran has shown absolutely no interest in anything the international community has to say concerning what they should do with their nuclear program. They've been doing the same thing for years, pushing hard to develop a nuke while at the same time saying they are doing peaceful research. There have been no consequences, so why should they stop now because another politician asked them to?

Also, "Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against the Islamic Republic if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Washington and many key allies contend Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

'The important thing is to make sure there is a clear timetable, at which point we say these talks don't seem to be making any clear progress,' Obama said. 'If that hasn't taken place I think the international community will see that it's ... Iran itself that is isolating themselves.'"

Let me break that down for you: "We'll go to the UN if you don't do what we're asking, and they may issue a statement of condemnation or implement minor sanctions against you. Furthermore, if the talks aren't making any headway, there isn't much we can do, but Iran will have isolated itself even further, which makes absolutely no difference to their nuclear program."

So Obama "expects a positive response from his diplomatic outreach to Iran on stopping its nuclear program by the end of the year." Wasn't it a little over a year ago when intelligence analysts said Iran was about two years away from having a nuke? So, that's one year past already, and Obama is giving them until the end of this year, so...1 year + 1 year = ? It sounds to me like we're going to keep talking and talking until Iran has a nuke, and then instead of simply talking about the "what if," we'll be talking about the "what now?"

Talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. Talk to Iran tomorrow. Give them one month to cease all work on the nuclear program, begin dismantling what they have done so far, and allow UN inspectors in to verify the progress. Don't like it? Witness the implementation of harsh sanctions, and Israel, you have the go-ahead to take out the nuke development site(s). Have a good day, Iran.

What is so difficult about this? Doesn't the old saying go, "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it?" You don't have to look very far into the past to learn that Iran isn't going to stop because you asked them to. Get with the program, people!