Politics in Action

bulldogg

Milforum's Bouncer
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/13/russiairan.shtml
Tehran values the fact that Russia has not yielded to U.S. pressure to halt construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iranian Consultative Assembly Speaker Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel said Tuesday. Moreover, the speaker voiced support for talks concerning uranium enrichment in Russia, news agencies reported.

“The objections made by the U.S. concerning our cooperation are purely political. Fortunately, the Russian leadership has not yielded to the pressure exerted by the U.S.,” Hadad-Adel was quoted by Interfax as saying at a press conference in Moscow.

“We expressed our request and concerns to our Russian partners about the possible delay in the construction of the nuclear power plant, and Russia promised that construction will be completed in time,” he said.

“As you know, cooperation between Iran and Russia is exclusively in its nature and is being pursued in accordance with IAEA regulations,” Hadad-Adel said.

Iran has also voiced support for talks concerning uranium enrichment in Russia, RIA Novosti added.

“We hail the talks on this issue with Russian officials and leadership,” Haddad-Adel said.

He said that during his visit to Moscow he had discussed Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation but had not touched upon the issue of Iranian uranium enrichment in Russia.

“We speak for any initiative promoting the formation of an atmosphere of trust in the negotiating process on the condition that Iranian rights to peaceful nuclear activity are acknowledged,” the speaker said.

Since Tehran hid sensitive nuclear work from the U.N.’s non-proliferation watchdog agency for 18 years until 2003 and has publicly called for Israel’s destruction, the West fears a nuclear-armed Iran would jeopardize international security.

Iran says its nuclear project aims solely to generate power for an energy-hungry economy that exports most of its oil to earn much needed hard currency.
Why did they cooperate with Iran, a country which has admitted to training and supplying Chechen rebels?

http://www.mosnews.com/money/2005/12/13/iranpipeline.shtml
Iran supports Russia’s participation in an ambitious multi-billion-dollar plan to supply Iranian natural gas to India and Pakistan, the country’s Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the France Press agency on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

“The issue has been brought up. Russia is a powerful country with advanced technology. If the Indians and Pakistanis agree, and I don’t think they would have serious opposition, these countries can cooperate and go ahead with the project,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

In June, India signed a deal worth $22 billion which foresees Tehran supplying 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually over a 25-year period from 2009 and also a memorandum of cooperation on the construction of a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan.

The 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) link is expected to cost more than $7 billion.

As MosNews has reported on previous occasions, Russia has voiced its interest in the project and the idea was supported by both India and Pakisan. The country is already involved in an $800 million deal to build Iran’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr.

Still don't believe me? Or perhaps you wonder why Germany has been strangely silent on the issue??


http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/13/schroederresponse.shtml
Ex-German leader Gerhard Schroeder has rejected criticism linked to his new job as head of a company he launched with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The company, set up last year, is jointly owned by Russia’s state-owned gas giant, Gazprom. The former chancellor said he would be taking legal action after opposition politicians accused him of sleaze, the BBC reported Tuesday.

The new chancellor, Angela Merkel, has called for debate on a code of conduct for politicians entering business.

In remarks made to the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Schroeder said the allegations against him were “nonsense” and announced that he would take legal action — although he did not elaborate.

“A lot of silly things are being spread in the political community and in the media,” he told Suddeutsche Zeitung in his first public comments on the issue. “In the past, I supported this project politically because I thought it made sense. I’m only 61 years old and I want to work, I don’t want to get in my wife’s way at home. Besides, it is an honor.”

He said that talk over his compensation — reportedly up to one million euros ($1.19 million) — was “pure invention” since the topic has not yet been broached. He noted that he was only offered the job on Friday and accepted it after consulting German companies involved in the project. And he added that he was considering legal action, Deutsche Welle reported.

Schroeder and President Putin signed the deal to build the gas pipeline underneath the Baltic Sea 10 days before the general election in September — earlier than originally planned.

Politicians and the media have suggested there was a conflict of interest, with Mr Schroeder allegedly feathering his nest while acting in a public capacity. “Schroeder ruins his reputation” was one front-page headline on Tuesday. But Schroeder said he was only offered the job on Friday last week, the same day that his appointment was announced.

The four-billion euro agreement to construct the pipeline was signed on Sept. 8, just 10 days before the German general election, in a high-profile ceremony attended by Schroder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The pipeline will link massive Russian gas fields with Germany under the Baltic Sea and has enraged Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and other countries which will miss out on lucrative fees paid when pipelines cross their territory.
In the end ideology is only words and money greases the machine.
:horsie:
 
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Money has ALWAYS been at the root of ALL evil - why should it be any different today?

Politicians are ALWAYS for sale - why should Iran, Russia, Germany or the United States be any different?
 
Sure money made the world go round over the ages. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Russia - Iran link has got something to do with old geo-political games. I bet our Putin still doesn't like US bases in Turkey and is flexing his muscles with Iran. So everybody can hear his monotonous voice once in a while. A lot of his internal credibility is based on US/ EU bashing and consorting with Western "enemies". But this too isn;t something new under the sun. The only new thing is that it involves nukes in the hand of hte Iranians....
 
The only new thing is that it involves nukes in the hand of hte Iranians....[/quote said:
The Russians may not be very trustworthy, or honest, but they aren't completely stupid either.

Russia knows full well that nuclear weapons in the hands of the "mad mullahs" of Iran will eventualy end up in the hands of the chechnyan rebel extremists.

You can be assured that they have plans in the works to sabotage the weapons phase of the Iranian nuclear program. Failure to do so would be suicidal.
 
Chief Bones said:
Money has ALWAYS been at the root of ALL evil - why should it be any different today?

Politicians are ALWAYS for sale - why should Iran, Russia, Germany or the United States be any different?

Indeed. A more interesting question: Why are we, the regular Joe/Jane Sixpacks, fooled time and time again into thinkig that we can "get politicians for free", when big businesses offer a much higher bid?
 
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