Iran's Ahmadinejad, Russia's Medvedev talk on nuclear issue
Source: AFP
TEHRAN - The presidents of Iran and Russia have expressed hope for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis on the eve of key talks aiming to break the deadlock, media reported on Saturday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev held their first telephone talks late on Friday, a day before the talks Saturday in Geneva, Iranian state media and the Kremlin said.
"In the Geneva negotiations... we can examine ways to make decisions in different fields and help resolve the existing issues," the website of Iranian state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
He also expressed satisfaction over the current state of ties between Tehran and Moscow, which has substantial economic interests in the Islamic republic, state television said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, quoted Medvedev as urging Iran "to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to clarify questions remaining about the Iranian nuclear programme."
"The Russian president reiterated his firm position on resolving the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear programme only by political and diplomatic means," it added.
Medvedev told Ahmadinejad he hoped for a "substantive and constructive dialogue" in Geneva on Saturday, it said.
Russia is one of the six world powers that last month gave Iran a proposal offering it full negotiations on a range of incentives if it suspends sensitive uranium enrichment operations.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold talks on the package with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva on Saturday, in a meeting that for the first time will also be attended by a US envoy.
The West fears that Iran could use uranium enrichment to make nuclear weapons but Tehran insists that it wants only to produce atomic energy.
It is simple bigotry that Iran is not being allowed to develop atomic weapons. Why shouldn't an Islamic hereditary theocracy be allowed to build I.C.B.M.s?
A nuclear middle-east will be a peaceful middle-east because of Mutually assured destruction. Mutually assured destruction kept the peace between the United States and the Soviet Union for decades.
Atomic bombs are defensive weapons because they make victory impossible for anyone.
Nuclear proliferation is going to happen sooner or later any way.
Technology always spreads. Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese, but now everyone has it. Even the most isolated illiterate tribesman carrys an assualt rifle when he goes to war.
In the future, every Mullah, Latin American Generalismo, and African Warlord will have the ability to hurl nuclear weapons at one another. But, they will also be threatened with the same thing comming back at them. War shall become obsolete and peace shall prevail.
It is racist to think that only educated democratically elected, western leaders can face the reality of mutually assured destruction and act reasonably.
After all, it's not like there is a history of sucide attacks in the Middle East
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