About that whole Iran thing...

[neuvocat]

what with the "impending" invasion and all that. Something tells me that the retired Colonel bragging about the undercover ops going on in the country wasn't too bright-he didn't just blow the cover of a lot of agents over there but also managed to provoke the Chinese.

Some time ago, China and Russia had insisted that the issue with Iran WILL be settled peacefully.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF04Ad07.html

As it turns out, Russia, China, and Iran seem to be getting along as friends:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-09/22/content_479883.htm

So much so that it has compromised the U.S. position quite a while ago:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55414-2004Nov16.html

So what do you do if you start to rile up someone you happen to owe a lot of money to? Or for that matter, how can anyone take you seriously about starting a fight with someone else when you're still in the middle of another one-and losing? That certainly doesn't mean you're not stupid enough to try, at least that is until the second guy you're trying to fight with starts calling for help and saying "He's trying to start a fight with me just like he did that first guy!"

If the U.S. is really serious about going into Iran, which I don't totally doubt, then it will have to contend with China demanding payment for the debt it is owed. Suppose the U.S. decides not to pay, then there's a lot of monetary damage in terms of assets and loss of resources that can't be replaced. Also add to that the military might that China has (which a diplomat alluded to a few months back) in terms of weaponry and troops and you have a situation where the U.S. will inevitably back down.

[KoKo]

1. Robin Wright's article is hopeful....in that perhaps China can stop

the Crazy Bushies from fulfilling their dreams of stikes on Iran.

I would like to think China could do this...but economically China needs US as much as we do them.