E.U. buckles?

The next round of last chances won’t begin anytime soon. The E.U. sees staunch Chinese opposition that won’t be swayed, but believes that Russia, who currently is against referring the issue to the Security Council, might climb aboard soon. If that was the gist of it, that would be one thing, but what has the E.U. done to indicate they have any desire to take this issue to the next level? Here’s a telling statement:

"In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the U.S. and European initiative to refer Tehran to the Security Council as counterproductive, saying it 'will not contribute to the search for a solution to the Iranian problem through political and diplomatic means.'"

In other words – the search for the solution hasn’t even begun - merely the search for the search of a solution (I may have skipped a few ‘searches’).

Not that the 6 party talks are progressing any better. I was skeptical about the recent statement about a deal with N. Korea, but held out some hope that it might produce something. However, when Fred Kaplan thought it was good, I knew it was completely hopeless. Sure enough, within 24 hours, N. Korea went into schizo girlfriend mode, making ridiculous demands and unhelpful accusations. And what’s with Ted Turner’s looniness?