ISRAEL

ISRAEL

Jerusalem Post, Sept. 28: What happens next? President Barack Obama declared that his “offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open.” But he wants Iran to “come clean” and “make a choice” — cooperation or “confrontation” with the international community. Obama says his policy of engagement and multilateral consultations means that if “diplomacy does not work, we will be in a much stronger position to, for example, apply sanctions that have bite.”

That is doubtful. Iran’s game continues to be a cunning combination of cooperation and recalcitrance. One step forward, two steps back. For example, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told The Washington Post that he is willing to have his nuclear experts meet with scientists from the United States as a confidence-building measure. Of course these experts will be in no position to answer questions about Iran’s nuclear infractions.

Out of sync

Anyway, the pace of economic sanctions is way out of sync with the progress the mullahs are making on their bomb. Even if Russia and China accepted a winter embargo on refined petroleum products entering Iran, is there any reason to imagine that the mere discomfort of the Iranian masses would take precedence for Khameini and Ahmadinejad over the bomb?

Obama should leapfrog over futile intermediate steps and place draconian sanctions on the table, now. To paraphrase John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this would mean that all ships and planes bound for Iran, from whatever nation, would be turned back.

Perhaps this prospect, coupled with a complete land, sea and air quarantine, can influence Iran’s leaders to rethink their one-step-forward-two-steps-back strategy, and save humanity from an Iranian bomb.

JAPAN

The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Sept. 25: The leaders of more than 90 countries applauded Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s address at the opening session of the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in New York.

“I wish to make a strong appeal to you to work together, so that ... the people of the world will be able to say that their leaders made crucial decisions for the sake of future generations,” Hatoyama said.

By “crucial decisions,” he meant forging a new international framework that will replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. It is hoped that an accord will be reached at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in December.

Perception gap

But a wide gap in perception still lies between advanced nations and newly emerging or developing nations.

Specifically, Hu indicated China’s readiness to increase the share of non-fossil fuels, such as renewable energy and nuclear energy, in primary energy consumption to around 15 percent by 2020.

In the past, China had little to say about its own emissions control plans, as its unwavering stance was that advanced nations should lead the world by their own example.