Negotiations on Iran Sanctions Delayed

Negotiations on an Iran sanctions resolution were unexpectedly postponed Tuesday because of Russia's anger at the United States for raising the plight of an opposition leader in Belarus in the U.N. Security Council.

Belarus, an authoritarian former communist state that has close ties to Russia, is not on the agenda of the U.N.'s most powerful body. Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin strongly objected when senior U.S. diplomat William Brencick brought up the 54-day hunger strike of jailed former Belarusian opposition presidential candidate, Alexander Kozulin, council diplomats said.

The five veto-wielding council members - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - along with Germany had been scheduled to meet soon after to discuss Russian amendments to a revised European draft resolution on Iran. But because of the diplomatic tiff over Belarus, the meeting was put off.

``It wasn't the best timing by the U.S.,'' said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6277095,00.html

edit for an oops!

The U.S. backs this compromise, but if someone wanted to wreck the deal,
a stunt like this might just do the job. "It wasn't the best timing."
It wasn't the best judgment either.

The Bushies can't help themselves. If you need someone's cooperation
and you can't bully them, why provoke them?

Interesting take on the Saudi Ambassador's resignation at the Washington Note. Nawaf Obaid was a consultant fired by the Saudi Ambassador due to an op/ed piece he wrote, a week before the Ambassador quickly had to resign. Wonder what Cheney and his Saudi buddies chatted about?

Maybe it was another Jack Straw moment for US diplomacy -- kill the messanger.

Given the shrillness of Israeli propaganda against Iran recently, one might think that Israel is falling out of favour with the Admin, who indeed, as you say, might be weakening on the Iran 'sanctions' schtick and may simply be more interested in moving the bull's eye a little closer to Russia and re-write the 'war narrative' from an American cold war perspective featuring good old reliable Russia.

BUT on the other side is the prospect of an neverending war by nutbars running the US military who figure US troops will be 'fighting' something for the next 50 -100 years.

Maybe calmer heads will prevail...but I doubt it...in history most situations where power politics becomes fluid, there is a great deal of war and destruction.