RUSSIA AND CHINA DERAILING INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS AT CONTAINING IRAN

NYTIMES:

Russia and China today called for more negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, a day after rebuffing a call by the Americans and the Europeans for the issue to be put before the United Nations Security Council. But Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also made clear that Iran must shut down the nuclear research program it just reopened before any meaningful negotiations with Europe can resume.

Russia and China had agreed on that point during a five-hour meeting on in London Monday, with the United States, Britain, France and Germany, according to the British Foreign Office and senior European officials. And the two countries, in a conciliatory gesture, had also agreed not to block a move to convene a special session early next month of the 35 nations that make up the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, according to the officials.

I do not trust Putin or the Chinese. I think they might very well be aiding the Iranians' attempts to delay any real move against Iran until it's too late and the genocidal mullah tyrants have nukes. The Russians and Chinese may be doing this because they think a nuclear-armed Iran weakens the USA and Europe and Israel more than it harms them; IOW: it's a classically cold geopolitical play on their part. REMEMBER: China aided AQ KHAN and Russia is building Iran's nuclear reactors.

UPDATE: ACE reports that El Baradei is talking a VERY TOUGH game ; in fact, his talk is tougher than Putin's or the Chinese, (and nearly everyone else!); he's even agreeing it may come down to the use of force. I LIKE THAT. (Remember, diplomacy is talking nice to a mad dog as you bend over to pick up a rock.)