Ahmadinejad Giveth, Ahmadinejad Taketh Away

How is this for an Islamist tease?

The Iranian regime, seeing what utter, hyperventiliating fools its dhimmi-ized infidel foes made prostrating themselves in the face of its August 22nd "deadline" for responding to feeble the Western request (I won't dignify our self-embarrassment by calling it a demand) to stop uranium enrichment for the nuclear weapons program it barely bothers to deny anymore, decided to amuse themselves further by offering a temporary eight-week pause:

Iran offered to freeze its uranium enrichment programme yesterday for eight weeks in what looked like a successful tactic aimed at delaying consideration of international sanctions.

In talks at the weekend in Vienna between Iran's national security chief, Ali Larijani, and the European Union's foreign policy supremo, Javier Solana, Tehran appeared to concede enough to prevent a quick move to sanctions by the UN security council.

Washington is pressing for a swift decision on sanctions after Tehran failed to meet the terms of a security council resolution requiring it to freeze its uranium enrichment activities in order to resume negotiations with the west, Russia and China. The weekend talks in Vienna were seen as a final chance to avert a bigger confrontation. But EU officials said yesterday that there would be further talks as a result of the weekend session.

As you may have already surmised, I don't take this diplodiddling any more seriously than the mullahs do. Tehran utterly ignored the Western deadline, so-called, of August 31st for complying with the toothless UNSCR, and whaddaya know - the UNSC didn't do anything about it, which is to say Russia and Red China continued to block the wholly ineffective enforcement mechanism of economic sanctions on Iran's behalf. Now they pretend to offer a temporary halt, as though that made any practical difference in the standoff, and that peeled away our European "allies," leaving poor ol' John Bolton all by his lonesome holding the proverbial bag yet again.

So how did the State Department respond? Do you even have to ask (and do you even want to know?)?:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday held out the possibility that the United States might join talks with Iran if it temporarily suspends its nuclear program.

Rice chose not to flatly reject talk of a two-month freeze by Tehran, suggesting Washington is looking for a way to begin negotiations as long as Iran meets its bedrock condition by suspending the program first.

"The point is there would have to be a suspension. If there is a suspension, we can have discussions but there has to be a suspension," Rice told reporters as she flew to Canada.

I have a great deal of respect for Secretary Rice, which only goes to show that it doesn't matter who heads Foggy Bottom because it will never, EVER grasp that its role is to defend and advance U.S. national interests, not kowtow to "international opinion". The mullahgarchy makes another blatantly empty gesture, our so-called friends reflexively bail on us, and rather than pull the plug on this nonsense and start issuing the ultimatums that should have been imposed years ago, as well as deploying the forces necessary to back them up, our foreign minister squeaks out that we might actually sit down across a negotiating table from the turbaned theonazis.

And how did Mohammed's vanguard respond? Does the term "PSYCHE!" mean anything to you?

Iran still refuses to suspend nuclear enrichment before the start of talks on its nuclear program - a key demand by the six nations locked in a diplomatic standoff with the Islamic republic, officials said Tuesday.

Tehran offered over the weekend to suspend enrichment, which can produce fissile material for nuclear warheads, for up to two months. The willingness to consider such a halt was seen as an important opening.

But officials from delegations familiar with the outcome of the weekend's negotiations between Iranian and European negotiators said Tuesday that Iran had also made clear it would not halt enrichment before broader, six-power talks aimed at persuading Iran to agree to a long-term moratorium. They demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential information.

Cap'n Ed summed it up this way:

So let's get this straight. They were willing to suspend uranium enrichment for eight weeks in order to boost the negotiations, but they want the negotiations first - and then might agree to suspend their enrichment efforts? Riiiiiiiiight.

What would the optimist call this debacle? "Rice called the mullahs' bluff"? I know how I would describe it. It's like the big kid who swipes a toy belonging to his little brother and holds it up out of his reach taunting him, causing the younger sibling to repeatedly lunge at the toy that his big brother teasingly keeps just out of his reach.

That's what the mullahs are doing. They have several crude nukes on hand (which I have to conclude is the only reason George Bush hasn't already "pre-empted" these maniacs) that are providing the cover they need to complete development of the home-grown program that will turn out warheads like a Pez dispenser, after which they will issue a few ultimatums of their own. Nothing is going to persuade them off of this course of action. The only thing that can stop them is American military force, the will to use it, and the sober realization that as late in the game as we are now, waiting for the endgame will be even costlier still.

There is one flaw in my metaphor. It would be more accurate to say that it is the little brother (Iran) who is playing keep-away from the big brother (us) while sitting on the shoulders of his two hulking friends (Russia and Red China). The way to resolve the impasse isn't to keep jumping up and down, but to clothesline the little brat to the floor and stomp on his neck.

Morrissey thinks the President understands this based on his speeches of both last week and Monday night. But I can't help but wonder about that, based on the onrolling appeasement being promulgated in his name.