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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/02/AR2009100204020.html
The Coming Failure on Iran
[Washington Post] Jackson Diehl - The Obama administration's positive tone following its first diplomatic encounter with Iran covers a deep and growing gloom in Washington and European capitals. None of the steps the West is considering to stop the Iranian nuclear program is likely to work. The headlines obscure the fact that Tehran's negotiator in Geneva declined to respond to the central Western demand: that Iran freeze its uranium enrichment work. Iran has rejected that idea repeatedly. In the meantime, talks about the details of inspections and the uranium shipments could easily become protracted, buying the regime valuable time. Meanwhile, Tehran's tactical retreat has provided Russia and China with an excuse to veto new sanctions. "If by early next year we are getting nothing through diplomacy and sanctions, the entire policy is going to be revealed as a charade," says Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center.