Right Pundits

Today Obama is expected to make remarks regarding today’s Iran nuclear discussion in which the United States personally took place in for the first time since the Islamic Revolution. So, what was accomplished in today’s important discussions? As Michelle Malkin states, Iran got taken to the Woodshed and agrees to . . . more talks! So, finally we see the vaunted “smart diplomacy” at work, talk talk talk.

Iranian state television later reported that the negotiators for the seven nations agreed to hold further talks before the end of October.
Western diplomat sources confirmed such an announcement was planned and said preparations were also underway for the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Iran’s new enrichment facility near Qom before the next meeting takes place.

In the first such high-level talks between Washington and Tehran in years, the chief U.S. negotiator, Undersecretary of State William J. Burns, had a private discussion with his Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili, during the morning session of the conference, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. He said he could not immediately offer any additional details. The meeting, which took place as the other delegations were getting ready for lunch, lasted 30 minutes, a Western diplomat said.

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More saber rattling from the Islamic Republic of Iran as they test fired short range missiles that could conceivably hit Israel as well as U.S. interests in the Gulf region. Iran test fired the Shahab 3 missile which has a reported range of 2,000 km.

Iran seemingly loves the media spotlight; one day after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, it was determined that Iran had a second nuclear facility in operation that had not been approved by the IAEA. Of course Iran says the facility and their nuclear ambitions are for electricity.

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According to Dictator Hugo Chavez’s administration, Iran is helping Venezuela detect uranium deposits and initial evaluations are suggesting the reserves are “significant” especially in the western part of Venezuela. And of course, just like Ahmadinejad in Iran, Chavez says that Venezuela is concerned about developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: BFF’s

YAY. Now Venezuela wants to join the “Despots with Nukes” club. The blowhard Chavez though, is already dismissing his critics’ concerns over his Venezuela’s nuclear ambitions. He says his intentions are purely peaceful and that his country simply wants to follow in the footsteps of other South American nations, like Brazil and Argentina, who are using atomic energy. So is Venezuela seeking help from Iran to obtain uranium?

But of course.

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No nukes for you, 1 year!

Hillary Clinton came out swinging today on Meet the Press, claiming that the US will never allow Iran to have Nukes. Clinton boldly told Iran:

“What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions, that if you’re pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we’re not going to let that happen,” Clinton said.

“First, we’re going to do everything we can to prevent you from ever getting a nuclear weapon. But your pursuit is futile, because we will never let Iran — nuclear-armed, not nuclear-armed — it is something that we view with great concern, and that’s why we’re doing everything we can to prevent that from ever happening. … We believe, as a matter of policy, it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons.”

Those are pretty strong words from someone who has been pretty muzzled by Obama. I have to wonder if Obama is on board with this sentiment. Obama has hedged around this topic for months now, for Hillary to come out and basically say it ain’t gonna happen has to have the the Dear Leader upset. The key question here is, what, if anything, will the administration do to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? We’ve seen intelligence reports just this week suggesting that Iran is about 6 months away from having their first nuke. So, will the Obama administration put it’s money where it’s mouth is? Will we allow the Israelis to take military action against Iran to take out their nuclear production centers? Will we engage in military action ourselves to prevent this from happening?

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “defense umbrella” statement seems to have come at an inopportune time; now Israel is wondering if Clinton was just musing about the possibility of a nuclear Iran or if the Obama Administration has resigned itself to that reality.

Hillary Clinton Asia Trip Slip Up

While in Asia, Hillary Clinton held a televised town hall and this is what she said:

The U.S. is “working to upgrade the defense of our partners in the region,” Clinton said during a televised town hall forum in Bangkok. “If the U.S. extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the Gulf, it’s unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer.”

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Here is the Neda video and photos, a beautiful Iranian woman shot in the streets of Tehran by state militia, serving as a rallying cry for freedom in Iran and around the world. She was shot in the heart by a Basij soldier on Saturday June 20th while peacefully protesting on a sidewalk with her father, holding a sign that simply said “freedom.”

Neda: Iran Martyr, Obama Silent

Everyone but our own president seems to realize that we are on the cusp of an Iranian Revolution in Iran that Americans feel compelled to support. The silence of Barack Obama on the important democratic struggle taking place in Iran is dumbfounding.

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A crowd even Obama would be envious of.

Once again, information is sketchy, but as you can see, the protests continue in Iran today. Reportedly over 3 million protesters in Tehran showed up today to protest the election as illegitimate. The main opposition leader Mousavi, who may have won the election, stood up on a car in the crowd and gave a speech in direction violation of a denied permit to hold this protest. The people then shouted date. “Mousavi we support you! We will die but retrieve our votes!”

More below the fold.

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I’m somewhat amazed at the lack of media coverage that this story is actually getting. A quick browse through the major news outlets today had some minor coverage of the dinner jacket accepting victory, etc., but almost no mention of the continued protests and riots that are occurring in Tehran. One good place you can get coverage of what is happening in Iran is through Twitter (I would suggest www.twitterfall.com, you can monitor the trending topics in realtime). There are several bloggers in Iran who are still managing to get out some tweets about what is happening there. They absolutely dispute the fact that Ahmadinejad won the election and the fact that he claims he won the Tehran vote is ridiculous.

According to Andrew Sullivan even those who are in charge of monitoring the elections in Iran have declared these results false. Here is a quote from Sullivan’s site regarding the Grand Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who is in charge of monitoring the election.

GStratfor is reporting that Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, has resigned. Though unconfirmed, the report is saying that Rafsanjani is resigning from his position as head of the Expediencey Council, NOT his position as the leader of the Assembly of Experts, which has oversight responsibility over the office of the Supreme Leader and would be responsible for naming Ayatollah Khamenei’s successor.

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