espuelas

This weekend Iran test-fired some long range missiles - daring the international community to stand up to its tough talk.

This Thursday, October 1st will see the first major negotiations with Iran, the Western powers, including the U.S. for the first time, plus Russia and China. 

With the explosive disclosure that Iran has been building a weapons manufacturing facility -inside a mountain , inside a Revolutionary Guard  base - their negotiating position is weak.

What will be the result?  Here are some varying opinions:

And from the New York Times:

“There are a variety of options still available,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said of the potential list of targets for Iranian sanctions, notably in energy equipment and technology. He called it “a pretty rich list to pick from.”

Administration officials began describing what new sanctions might look like with a critical face-to-face meeting between the United States and Iran just four days away. The Americans are expected to press their demand for quick access and blueprints to a newly disclosed Iranian nuclear site.

In pushing for more stringent sanctions, the administration wants to accomplish two potentially irreconcilable goals: forcing Iran back to negotiations over its nuclear program — which the United States and its Western allies suspect is meant to create a weapon — while at the same time winning the support of Russia and China, which are eager to preserve their significant economic ties to Iran.

For now, administration officials said, the United States was not likely to win support for an embargo on shipments of gasoline or other refined fuel to Iran. The European allies, one official said, view this as a “blunt instrument” that could hurt ordinary Iranians, inflame public opinion and unite the country behind the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose legitimacy within Iran has remained under a cloud since his June 12 re-election that opponents claim was rigged.

United States UN Ambassador Susan Rice reviews various U.S. strategic accomplishments from this week's opening of the United Nations General Assembly:

After rolling-thundering on the international stage this past week, President Barack Obama has put the United States at the center of world affairs once again. 

The President strengthened our country's security in a week of foreign policy successes.

There were strategic achievements - like getting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to put public pressure on Iran with the threat of more sanctions, and the creation of the G20 as the new global, supra-government economic coordination body. 

And also real gains in U.S. soft power - growing national prestige when an American president is hailed by the combined leaders of the world (with the exception of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of course).

Which brings us to Iran.  The surprise joint U.S., U.K. and France press conference where Iran's secret uranium enrichment plant was outed, reinforced the image of a man in charge.  Next week's face-to-face negotiations with Iran will now be undertaken in a totally different tone. 

Iran has been lying to the international community - and are now engaged in a vigorous, but unconvincing, smoke screen action. 

The disclosure of Iran's duplicity, combined with the Ahmadinejad government's lack of legitimacy with Iranians, will mean that the Ayatollah's negotiators will start the negotiations with a weak hand indeed.

While there remains critical progress to be achieved on big issues - think a final health care bill, the financial reform package, and immigration reform - the Obama Administration has continued to show a good combination of clear-eyed strategic focus and high executional ability.  A good combination, in fact,  for a successful presidency.

Here's the President's weekly address,  it is his view on this week's accomplishments:

According to the Washington Post:

President Obama declared Saturday that his administration has "renewed American leadership" in the world by forging international agreements to reform the global financial system, pursue clean energy, secure loose nuclear weapons and face down the threat of a nuclear Iran.

Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address after a series of meetings with world leaders at the United Nations and at an international summit in Pittsburgh, Obama reiterated that his offer of "serious, meaningful dialogue" to resolve the Iran nuclear problem remains open.

But with the discovery that Iran was building a secret nuclear facility to enrich uranium, Obama said, "Iran must now cooperate fully" with the International Atomic Energy Agency and take action to demonstrate its claim that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes.

Obama said the international community is united in its determination that "Iran must pursue a new course or face consequences."