Ireland votes "Yes" for the Lisbon Treaty, but...

Ireland, as predicted voted to approve the Lisbon Treaty. It had been felt that Ireland was the last obstacle to final ratification, with the remaining two countries (Poland and the Czech Republic) considered as a lock to approve. In this article which is linked,

"Lisbon Treaty: After Ireland, the Polish and Czech questions", we see that more delays may occur:

"If Ireland said 'yes' to the Lisbon Treaty in its referendum, Polish president Lech Kaczynski would sign the treaty on behalf of Poland in the middle of the week, beginning October 5...Kaczynski repeated many a time that Poland would not hamper the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty."

So count Poland in.

However the Czech Republic is a different, more complicated story:

"However the situation in the Czech Republic is more complex. Czech president, Vaclav Klaus - an avowed Eurosceptic - has held out against signing the treaty, which was approved by the Czech parliament several months ago. Further, Czech senators opposed to the Lisbon Treaty, and reportedly allied to Klaus, recently filed a legal complaint to block its adoption, potentially for months. Klaus has said that he would not sign the treaty until the Czech constitutional court has ruled on the challenge by the senators."

So the Czech final approval appears to be something which will be determined by their constitutional court. This will be an interesting story to follow. There will be enormous pressure on the Czech Republic to complete this ratification, as the EU would like the Lisbon Treaty completed by the end of October. How the EU handles the Czech Republic should be very interesting.



In an unrelated story, there is a fascinating commentary found in the Washington Post, regarding the diplomatic efforts with Iran, and the apparent failure of such:

"The Coming Failure on Iran". In this story we see these quotes:

"The Obama administration and its allies have said repeatedly that they will pursue diplomacy until the end of the year, and then seek sanctions if diplomacy hasn't worked. That sets up a foreseeable and very unpleasant crossroads. 'If by early next year we are getting nothing through diplomacy and sanctions,' says scholar Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center, 'the entire policy is going to be revealed as a charade.'"

Of course we already realize this idea of "negotiations" is ridiculous. Anyone with more than two functioning brain cells and a newspaper realizes that Iran is simply buying time, and has no plans at all to discontinue their uranium enrichment plans. They have made this declaration many times, something confirmed in this article:

"Iran's current rulers, many of whom came of age during the Iran-Iraq war, sound convincing when they say they are ready for the country to suffer more austerity for the cause of Iranian greatness."

Then we see the absurdity of the idea of "negotiations" in this article:
"Iran Avoids Nuclear Talks at Geneva Meeting".
Hardly a concession to "diplomacy". Sigh. Quotes:

"Iranian delegates to nuclear talks in Geneva have announced that they are willing to discuss the Iranian nuclear program - if the discussion is part of a larger discussion on the subject of global nuclear disarmament. Chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili wrote a proposal calling for worldwide disarmament and sent it to several foreign leaders. The proposal does not touch on Iran's nuclear program."

"The Iranian delegates did not agree to discuss Iran's nuclear program during Thursday's Geneva meeting, except to repeat that Iran sees its uranium enrichment program as a national right."

The whole concept that Iran can be talked out of their nuclear program is beyond absurd. They are clearly buying time while they continue their development nuclear weapons - while their President openly calls for the complete destruction of Israel.

If the stakes weren't so high, and if we weren't talking about a terrorist state attempting to destroy Israel, this would be laughable. But this is not funny - especially for those people living in Israel.

This may all be moot - as Israel will most likely ignore the feeble efforts by the U.S. and the EU, and determine their own actions. Thats my prediction. We shall see.