THIS SAYS IT - AT 6:54 P.M. ET:  Anne Bayefsky is one of the most astute writers about the UN, its hypocrisy and dishonesty, and how American foreign policy gets compromised by UN degeneracy. 

In the last few days Anne has noticed a remarkably cynical contradiction in Obama's diplomatic maneuvering, and she comes to a troubling conclusion.  She notes that the president chaired the UN Security Council, yet refused to put either Iran or North Korea on the council's agenda.  She writes:

However, speaking in Pittsburgh, Obama admitted that:

"yesterday in Vienna, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France presented detailed evidence to the IAEA demonstrating that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years. . . . The existence of this facility underscores Iran’s continuing unwillingness to meet its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions. . ."

In other words, when President Obama addressed the General Assembly and Security Council he already knew that Iran was ignoring international standards, and its latest violations endangered international peace and security more than ever before. And yet he deliberately refused to put Iran on the agenda of the Council summit — the same Council that he claimed bore responsibility for responding to such threats.

Why would the president not put the discovery of the secret Iranian nuclear plant on the UN agenda, where he had the attention of every nation in the world?

Sad to say, I'm afraid Anne explains it:

There is only one possible answer: President Obama does not have the political will to do what it takes to prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb.

COMMENT:  That, of course, is what many of us are thinking.  Lots of bluster when the plant's existence was made known.  But today the president was back in business, with language that might be fine when teaching an international law class, but not so fine when dealing with reality:

"Iran's leaders must now choose - they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations. Or they will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Oh dear.  They will "deny opportunity to their own people," the same people they've been shooting in the streets of Tehran.  That's Obama at his toughest.  Even the British and French are putting us to shame.

September 26, 2009