from the WSJ, safe haven for whackjob neocons:
By JOHN BOLTON
Last week, while meandering toward a fourth U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran, Washington was blindsided by the revival of a previously discarded plan to enrich some of Iran's uranium to higher levels for use in the Tehran research reactor. This proposal—a good deal for Iran when it was proposed last year by the misguided Obama administration—is even better in its latest iteration and does nothing to stop Iran's uranium enrichment program.
The Iranian enrichment deal was brokered by Brazil and Turkey, two of the 10 current nonpermanent Security Council members, and it could pose difficulties for getting the council to adopt another resolution on sanctions. To forestall the debilitating effects of the Brazil-Turkey deal, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promptly circulated to other council members the draft of a sanctions resolution the five permanent members and Germany had spent months negotiating.
Unfortunately, the damage was done. Turkey announced that negotiations on sanctions should cease for 30 days and Brazil flatly proclaimed it would not even discuss the draft resolution. Since one good turn deserves another, China and Russia will now graciously acknowledge the Brazil-Turkey initiative and insist that the other permanent members enter serious consultations regarding the draft of the permanent five. Thus, having negotiated intensely for months with Russia and China, Mrs. Clinton can look forward to another opportunity to negotiate intensely with both them and their surrogates.
....(snip)....
Here, Iran and North Korea intersect. Cooperation between the two on improving their ballistic missiles has been extensive and Iran likely financed the North Korean reactor that was under construction in Syria until it was destroyed by Israel in September 2007. Nonetheless, China will instinctively oppose even the Security Council discussing tough measures against Pyongyang. It would be a profound mistake if Mr. Obama goes along with this to get Beijing's support for new sanctions against Iran.
Like those of its predecessor, the efforts of the Obama administration to stop Iran's nuclear program have failed. North Korea's nuclear-weapons capability undergirds its belief that it can commit acts of aggression with impunity and therefore shows unambiguously why we must stop Iran. It also shows that the Security Council is gridlocked and impotent. The risks are growing as our president cheers on a world in which unilateral American power is diminished. ..........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264270768612284.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion