Left I on the News

Iran is about to get a nuclear fuel delivery from Russia. George Bush has this to say:

"If the Russians are willing to do that, which I support, then the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich," President Bush said Monday. "If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant, then there’s no need for them to learn how to enrich."

He "supports" it? But later on, we read the truth (or, at least, the "truth"):

"We for many years tried to stop it, and for the last year we've known there was no way to stop it, and that it was coming, and we held our breath on the timing," a senior administration official said.

Needless to say, Bush's statement comes from the head of country where every single Presidential candidate is busy campaigning on a theme of "energy independence." They all realize that having a country dependent on others for vital resources like energy or food puts the country at the mercy of others. And indeed, we read precisely that point later in the article:

But privately, administration officials said they had been hoping, with dwindling confidence, that Russia would continue to stall on delivering the fuel, in part to send a message to Iran that the United States and its European, Chinese and Russian allies were hanging tough in their attempts to punish Iran for refusing to suspend enrichment.

Of course, this is precisely why Iran insists on its right to enrich its own uranium -- because relying on other countries gives those countries a tool that they have proven they will use to "send a message" (or worse); that is, to attempt to control the fate of Iran. And Iran, foolishly proceeding under the premise that it's a sovereign country, seems to think that's not a good idea. Quelle surprise!

Update: I missed an extra bit of irony - while Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. are busy demanding that Iran must be dependent on other countries for its energy needs (and continuing to press for harsher economic sanctions and/or military action should they not accede to that demand), on this very day they passed the "Energy Independence and Security Act."