World should brace for possible war over Iran: France

[tocqueville]

37 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) - The world should brace for a possible war over the Iranian nuclear crisis but seeking a solution through talks should take priority, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," he said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio.

"We must negotiate right to the end," with Iran, he said, but underlined that if Tehran possessed an atomic weapon, it would represent "a real danger for the whole world."

"We are trying to put in place plans which are the privilege of chiefs of staff and that is not for tomorrow," he said, referring to military plans but stressed that although any attack on Iran was far from taking place, "It is normal for us to plan" for any eventuality.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070916/wl_mideast_afp/franceirannuclear

[Laughing Mirror]

1. What danger would Tehran possessing an atomic weapon pose for the whole world?

It is hard to take Kouchner, the great humanitarian, seriously.

[madrchsod]

8. israel ?

who else but the the usa and israel want a war that would plunge the world into a depression? i`m guessing no one else

[cali]

11. It sounds like France is climbing on board too. n/t

[uppityperson]

9. It would give mrbushandhisevilminions an obvious excuse to up the war.

[bbinacan]

2. Damn. This out of France?

I don't like the sound of this.

[malaise]

17. France had electronic voting recently as well

Strange things are happening.

[BlooInBloo]

3. They know what our homicidal maniac of a President is like.

[blogslut]

4. How?

How does Iran having nukes threaten the world? I mean it. Do these supposedly intelligent think tankers believe that the moment Iran gets nukes, they're going to go shooting them off? Or will they simply point them at other countries like an atom-powered guard dog the way the US and Russia and every other damned country with nuclear capabilities does?

Frankly, I think it's freaking racist to say that one country should not have nukes because "those people are crazy".

[CoffeeCat]

5. Racist and ironical...

...because we have nukes and our country is run by criminal, thug psychopaths.

So, why do we have them?

When Junior was sElected, we should have disarmed.

[cali]

10. supposedly, the thinking goes,

if Iran develops a nuke, it would inspire a rush for nukes in countries such as Turkey. The argument is that proliferation would make it that much more likely that someone would use one.

I don't buy it, but that's the arguement.

[Benhurst]

13. They must be disarmed because they are the sort who would use nuclear weapons.

:sarcasm:

[jimshoes]

15. Well it would certainly be

the last time they use them as well. They must know that don't they?

[The Stranger]

16. It is completely bigoted and racist to think Iranians would irrationally and suddenly attack for no

reason, but they are brownish people and mostly Muslim, so racist and bigoted America is pushing for more mass murder.

[SoCalDem]

6. I wonder how long the "rest of the world" will allow our president to run amok?

At some point, perhaps they will band together to "put a stop to this nonsense"..

We are not the ONLY consumers of middle east oil, and maybe the rest of the world is tired of us making a boiling caudron of doom out of the middle east, so a few Bush-pals can get richer

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Aha, this is the new poodle

lordly, so the UK will not come along but it does sound the French are making plans

[tocqueville]

12. Kouchner is only warning because he knows something is going on

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3218,36-955841@51-677013,0.html

he precised that the French military isn't associated to any preparations (with others).

But it's normal that there are contingency plans since French troops are possible targets in Lebanon and Afghanistan.

It's obvious that the article emphasizes on further talks and sanctions.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3218,36-954492@51-677013,0.html

Germany and the UK are already on that line, France is pushing Italy and Spain to join the group.

[tocqueville]

14. some posts here are out of line

1) France will never participate in a military action against Iran without a UN mandate.
2) There is no chance in hell for such a mandate
3) the only theoretical military participation would be if French military or French interests are directly attacked - and of course if terrorism directly linked to Iran would hit French interests.

France is worried as is the UK. That's why a lot of reports are surfacing recently. France tries to mobilize the EU for sanctions hoping that economic coercion will have the Mollahs (which are the ones really in charge) replace Ahmanidjehad and stop the enrichment
at least temporarily. That would make an attack on Iran very difficult to motivate.

What some people here don't seem to understand is that howling "Bush is bad" doesn't help. It would probably alienate moderate US forces and wouldn't have any effect on the WH. It would probably even make it more difficult for certain Democrats to win the next elections.

Condemning and isolating Iran is right. Bombing is wrong because it would made the situation even worse. Diplomacy and politics can help, not empty slogans.

[The Stranger]

18. IRAN DOES NOT HAVE NUKES, AND IS YEARS AWAY FROM ONE SINGLE DEVICE.

This is an avalanche of Neoconservative warmongering lies.

The nation of Iran poses no nuclear threat because it has no nuclear capability.

The nation of Iran poses no nuclear threat because it is at least three years from having a single nuclear weapon.

The notion that there are people in Iran working feverishly at any moment to scream "Aha" and launch it immediately against anyone else in the world is simply bigoted, racist propaganda. It is a lie.

[roamer65]

20. ...and if Iran ever gave a device to terrorists...

we would know the enriched uranium exactly by its fission fragments. Iranian uranium ore has a higher molybdenum content, which a real problem for the centrifuges and would give the enriched uranium a very unique "signature". Molybdenum also plugs the centrifuges. It will be YEARS before Iran even poses the real threat of having a fission bomb.

http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/945/iran-focus-part-1-how-close-is-iran-to-the-bomb


So I am definitely in agreement with you, Stranger.

[roamer65]

19. Oil and gold are gonna go berzerk tomorrow.

Kouchner knows something. Keep all eyes on Admiral Fallon. If he steps aside or resigns, there will be an American attack on Iran.