Passing the Buck on Iran.

So now we know how President Obama is going to deal with the Iranian nuclear crisis…

Let the Russians handle it!

Their asking price? Merely us agreeing to dismantle the plans for our missile shield of Europe.

And we conservatives were worried President Obama was in over his head. Shame on us…

First off, I doubt the Russians can even do anything at this point to stop this run-away-train-like Iranian nuclear program. Every time there are new intelligence developments, reports always show that the Iranians are further along in their nuclear development than anyone had thought.

The latest example of this came just this weekend from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

But even if we were to believe Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev could persuade Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to give up his nuclear aspirations, we need to take a long look at Russia’s motives.

First, why is Russia so eager to see the demise of the missile shield? I mean, if they had no desire to launch a missile attack, than having a missile shield should be of no concern to them…right?

Wrong.

I do not really believe that Russia is planning to hurl some intercontinental ballistic missiles into Europe, however, do not believe for a second that they will not, either directly or indirectly, blackmail some of its neighbors with the mere threat that they could do so if they chose.

That is a huge strategic advantage that Russia would possess when dealing with countries like Ukraine, Poland and Georgia.

So in essence, we are selling out the burgeoning democracies of Eastern Europe in this scenario.

Well done Mr. President!

Secondly, it is possible Russia will not really give these negotiations an honest effort. After all, if Iran develops nuclear weapons, the Middle East will be in turmoil and what does that mean…that’s right, high oil prices. A spike in oil prices would do wonders for the slumping Russian economy, an issue that should not be overlooked in this situation.

So in this situation, Russia would have the high oil prices it craves and the dismantling of the U.S. missile shield.

Please forgive Mr. Putin’s drooling.

Look, I know that we have had to enter into dicey agreements with Russia in the past (See: World War II), however, back in 1941 we had no choice. Now, we do have other choices.

Israel is one such choice. As I’ve discussed before, Israel has the ability and drive to take out the Iranian nuclear program on their own. They have the military might, intelligence and equipment to do so, plus, they will face very little international condemnation if they were to follow through.

Another choice? The United States Military.

Gee, what a novel concept…you know, actually handling our own international issues.

On a side note here, after all of the sanctimonious rhetoric regarding U.S. corporations outsourcing jobs to oversea companies, it’s funny to me to see the Obama Administration doing the very same with its foreign diplomacy.

But back to my original point…our guys are right over there and we could easily take out the Iranian nuclear program.

We certainly have the firepower and could easily make the case that we are protecting, not only our own national security, but the security of two of our staunchest allies-Iraq and Israel.

Either of these choices would accomplish all of our goals. The Iranian nuclear program would be stopped, oil prices would remain low, Russia will not have an inflated international role, the European missile shield would continue on as planned and our democratic friends in Europe will not have to worry about Russia acting like a playground bully.

I know that the Obama White House wants to appear as pragmatic and willing to work with other countries when dealing with international issues, however, there is a difference in being pragmatic and being irresponsible.

In this case, the Obama Administration is being the latter.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John