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Subject: After a meeting with the POTUS in Singapore, Russian President issues a warning to Iran.
DarthAmerica    11/16/2009 2:07:22 PM
November 17, 2009 More Delays for Iranian Nuclear Power Plant By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ MOSCOW?Russia?s energy minister said on Monday that a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran that is a focal point in the ongoing dispute over Iran?s nuclear ambitions would not come online by the end of the year as planned. The launch of the plant at Bushehr in southern Iran has been plagued with setbacks since Russia began work on the facility in the mid-1990s, with Russian officials often appearing to use the project to gain diplomatic leverage in negotiations with Iran?s leaders. ?We expect serious results by the end of the year, but the launch itself will not occur,? Sergei Shmatko, the energy minister, said at a news conference in Moscow, according to the Ria Novosti news ngency. He vowed that the Bushehr plant would be completed, but said the launch date would depend on security guarantees at the facility. Mr. Shmatko denied that politics played any role in the delay, saying that ?technical issues? were responsible. There was no immediate response from Iran?s top leaders, though some hard-line members of Iran?s Parliament reacted angrily to the announcement. Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, a member of Parliament, called Russia ?dishonest.? ?If we wait another 200 years, the Russians will not complete the plant,? he said, according to Iran?s ISNA news agency. ?It is naive to believe that the Russians are cooperating with us.? Monday?s announcement came a day after Russia?s president, Dmitry A. Medvedev, expressed frustration with the pace of negations over Iran?s nuclear program. Speaking after a meeting in Singapore with President Obama on Sunday, Mr. Medvedev indicated that Russia might support sanctions against Tehran if no agreements were reached soon. Russia?s leaders have said they oppose efforts by Iran to build a nuclear weapon, but have joined the Iranians in insisting that the Bushehr plant would be for civilian use only. The head of Russia?s state nuclear company, Sergei V.Kiriyenko, said in February that Russia planned to bring the Bushehr plant online by the end of 2009. Shortly after, Iran conducted what it said was a successful test of the plant?s reactor. Russia signed a contract to complete the plant in 1995, resuming work on a project that the German company, Siemens, began in the 1970s only to withdraw from Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia delivered its first shipment of enriched-uranium fuel rods to Bushehr in 2007, under an agreement that would require Iran to send the spent nuclear fuel back to Russia for disposal. At the time, Western diplomats hoped the arrangement could persuade Iran to give up its own uranium enrichment program, though Iran as so far refused to do so. Rather, Iran has continued to pursue what it says is a civilian nuclear program, giving mixed signals about its willingness to accept a proposal to ship its enriched uranium to a third country for processing. Of late, Russia has appeared to acquiesce to increased pressure from the United States and Europe to take a stronger stance with regard to Iran. Responding in part to criticism from the United States and Israel, Russia has so far failed to make good on a deal with Iran to deliver an advanced surface-to-air missile system called the S-300. The delays have angered Iran?s leaders, who have long coveted the system for protection from possible air strikes against their country?s nuclear sites. Last week, Iran?s defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, suggested that a failure to deliver the system could undermine relations between Iran and Russia. -------------------------------------------------------------------- There is more to this. I'll post updates when they are available. -DA
 
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Spiky    Talk is cheap.   11/17/2009 10:33:19 AM
Any serious sanctions against Iran? No? Oh well, just more cheap talk by the Russians. 
 
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eldnah       11/17/2009 2:11:17 PM



Medvedev will make all kinds of nice noises and even "Do" things i.e. even make protestations and perhaps vote favorably on US resolutions at the UN because China has his back and will veto anything that would actually affect Iran. We owe China so much we have minimal leverage over her. On other issues China may side with us while Russia refuses. We'll be whipsawed between them if they wish, so let's not be naive and make believe anything is being accomplished.







You are assuming. Why? Support these assertions please. The USA and PRC are interdependent and the US-China relationship is by far more important than the Iran-China relationship. China is an export driven economy who's survival DEPENDS on the United States buying it's goods. 




-DA 




Whatever you or I think of the UN, enough of the bien-pensants believe the organization's approval is necessary for any international action to be legitimate. The function of the security council allows one permanent member's veto to prevent any action, so when you have two of those nation's allied against one it is easy to alternatively play good cop-bad cop to frustrate the target nation while appearing at times to be the friend of the target. I don't think anyone here seriously believes that China doesn't see the US as an obstruction to its desire to be the hegemon in the Western Pacific especially with potential oil fields in the South China Sea off Vietnam and the Spratleys plus the eventual absorption of Taiwan into the PRC. China's relation with nearby oil-rich Iran is also very important. I doubt the PRC believes the US would deliberate tank the dollar and its own economy just to coerce China and as a consequence the US has little leverage. Russia still wants control over its lost SSRs and to a significant extent over its old East European Satellites. Weakening the US furthers both Russia's and China's aims and Iran is a useful tool.  
 
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Le Zookeeper    CHina too blows Iran issue off-during Obama meet, PLA sings -I think I love you   11/17/2009 4:14:36 PM
.
On North Korea and Iran, Obama said negotiations provided a way forward but stressed that should they fail both countries would face consequences. With China's budding energy investments in Iran and worries about instability in neighboring North Korea, Hu merely cited a need for continued talk.
 
 
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tigertony       11/30/2009 10:25:21 AM

November 17, 2009
More Delays for Iranian Nuclear Power Plant

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
MOSCOW?Russia¡¯s energy minister said on Monday that a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran that is a focal point in the ongoing dispute over Iran¡¯s nuclear ambitions would not come online by the end of the year as planned.

The launch of the plant at Bushehr in southern Iran has been plagued with setbacks since Russia began work on the facility in the mid-1990s, with Russian officials often appearing to use the project to gain diplomatic leverage in negotiations with Iran¡¯s leaders.

¡°We expect serious results by the end of the year, but the launch itself will not occur,¡± Sergei Shmatko, the energy minister, said at a news conference in Moscow, according to the Ria Novosti news ngency. He vowed that the Bushehr plant would be completed, but said the launch date would depend on security guarantees at the facility.

Mr. Shmatko denied that politics played any role in the delay, saying that ¡°technical issues¡± were responsible.

There was no immediate response from Iran¡¯s top leaders, though some hard-line members of Iran¡¯s Parliament reacted angrily to the announcement. Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, a member of Parliament, called Russia ¡°dishonest.¡±

¡°If we wait another 200 years, the Russians will not complete the plant,¡± he said, according to Iran¡¯s ISNA news agency. ¡°It is naive to believe that the Russians are cooperating with us.¡±

Monday¡¯s announcement came a day after Russia¡¯s president, Dmitry A. Medvedev, expressed frustration with the pace of negations over Iran¡¯s nuclear program. Speaking after a meeting in Singapore with President Obama on Sunday, Mr. Medvedev indicated that Russia might support sanctions against Tehran if no agreements were reached soon.

Russia¡¯s leaders have said they oppose efforts by Iran to build a nuclear weapon, but have joined the Iranians in insisting that the Bushehr plant would be for civilian use only.

The head of Russia¡¯s state nuclear company, Sergei V.Kiriyenko, said in February that Russia planned to bring the Bushehr plant online by the end of 2009. Shortly after, Iran conducted what it said was a successful test of the plant¡¯s reactor.

Russia signed a contract to complete the plant in 1995, resuming work on a project that the German company, Siemens, began in the 1970s only to withdraw from Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Russia delivered its first shipment of enriched-uranium fuel rods to Bushehr in 2007, under an agreement that would require Iran to send the spent nuclear fuel back to Russia for disposal.

At the time, Western diplomats hoped the arrangement could persuade Iran to give up its own uranium enrichment program, though Iran as so far refused to do so.

Rather, Iran has continued to pursue what it says is a civilian nuclear program, giving mixed signals about its willingness to accept a proposal to ship its enriched uranium to a third country for processing.

Of late, Russia has appeared to acquiesce to increased pressure from the United States and Europe to take a stronger stance with regard to Iran.

Responding in part to criticism from the United States and Israel, Russia has so far failed to make good on a deal with Iran to deliver an advanced surface-to-air missile system called the S-300. The delays have angered Iran¡¯s leaders, who have long coveted the system for protection from possible air strikes against their country¡¯s nuclear sites.

Last week, Iran¡¯s defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, suggested that a failure to deliver the system could undermine relations between Iran and Russia.

--------------------------------------------------------------------


There is more to this. I'll post updates when they are available.

-DA

  Important Update for DA,Obama,and  Putin from Iran:
 
 
updated 4:16 p.m. ET,
 
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FJV       11/30/2009 3:39:46 PM
The fact that everyone is happy to play politic with this seems to indicate that Iran is unlikely to have the bomb within a few years. It is definately not in Russia's interest to have a nuclear armed Iran dictate/influence some of it's policies in the region. People who argue otherwise really don't know what they are talking about IMHO.
 
 
 
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sentinel28a       11/30/2009 3:49:58 PM
It definitely is not in Russia's interest to have a nuclear-armed Iran on their borders...unless, of course, Putin is under the mistaken impression that Iran can be controlled--or at least coerced not to attack anyone he cares about.
 
And I'm assuming Putin gives a categorical damn about the Russian people and not just his own power base.
 
 
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LB    Take it to the Bank   12/1/2009 12:18:49 PM
Let us all relax about Iran. 
 



The Russians aren't going to allow the Iranians to go nuclear independent.



-DA 








 







 
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