ARE SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN WORKING? DO ELEPHANTS FLY?

By Schmoel Yitzhak

Dennis Ross is not one to be taken lightly.

Until recently, President Barack Obama's senior Middle East advisor, Ross has written eloquently about the mis-named "Peace Process" and has labored directly trying to move it forward in the middle of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

That Ross was called out on strikes when it came to hammering out a settlement between militant Islamic and the Middle East's true democracy only means that Ross is far in the back of a long line of diplomats who have failed to convince Arabs to once and for all stop trying to do Hitler's unfinished work on the state of Israel.

"Have I done everything perfectly?" Ross asks rhetorically. "No. Does anyone do everything perfectly? No. Are there some things I could do differently? Sure. 

"Do I think I am the reason there is no peace? No."

Fair enough but Ross, who recently received an award from the Anti-Defamation League for his "leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process," may have "shaped" Uncle Sam's policies but what have they accomplished in terms of peace on the ground? 

Has he made any impression on Hezbollah? Hamas? The Syrian Murderer? Iran?

From the wiles of Yassir Arafat to the smoke-blowing of Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Authority's love-making with Israel-Hating Khaled Meshal, the "Peace Process" not only has gone back to Square One; it's now at minus-Square Two. So, let's not do too many handstands of joy over Ross'  "accomplishments" nor should we take his rather hopeful statements about Iran too seriously.

This corner believes that elephants will fly before sanctions will have any effect on Iran war-making moves.

The Gospel According To Dennis has it that international sanctions against Iran are working.

Hmmmm. Let's think about that for a moment and wonder just what Obama's Middle East confidante means when he says they are "working."

Well, there are two possibilities.

1. The sanctions are not only bringing Tehran to its knees but also will persuade the assorted ayatollahs to halt their fast-moving militant nuclear program. Or, more likely the following:

2. The sanctions are "working" but only to the extent that statements such as Ross' and other Obama stooges get newspaper, television and other electronic news space with their sanctimonious predictions. In other words, in terms of personal public relations, they are "working" for the individuals but not when it comes to obtaining even a smidgen of peace.

Exhibit A is Ross' rationale about the sanctions effect on Iran.

"Sanctions are working," says Ross who has returned to his office in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  "Iran's currency has devalued by half in the last six weeks. They can see that Europeans are going to boycott their oil and that's already had an effect on what the Chinese are doing?"

Superficially, the statement seems fair enough; but when you really come down to it, Ross is doing precisely what Obama has done and the bozos who run the European Union are doing;  they're blowing smoke rings. 

Sanctions look good in print but reality tells us another -- more threatening -- story where the bottom line clearly shows  that no matter how stiff the sanctions appear, they always can be circumvented if the target of them is wily -- and motivated -- enough to figure a way. 

And if you don't believe me check out Syria's president Bashar Assad who unremittingly continues to murder his citizens despite sanctions, UN handwringing and futile demands from the Arab League. Williams Shakespeare wrote, "The play is the thing." For the Arabs, the ploy is the thing.

And, believe me, the Iranians have been doing just that for years; teasing the West into believing that their nuclear ambitions were merely for peaceful purposes. Sorry, but all the sanctions in the world will not stop them from moving relentlessly ahead to perfect an atomic weapon of mass destruction -- aimed especially at Israel with Uncle Sam next in line.

Obama, Ross and the others who swear by sanctions are re-defining naivete in the worst possible way and at the worst possible time. Over the past few years iran has employed every available ploy to detour its critics while moving hellbent toward the bomb(s). 

What's necessary -- the sooner the better -- is a full-scale military strike against Iran and no amount of Obama blather can ignore that fact.

Ross: "The president has been very clear about it, saying he takes no options off the table. That's what he means. But he prefers diplomacy to work."

Diplomacy stopped working with the Arabs years ago. As for the "options," Obama should once and for all go for the military option instead of leaving it on the table alongside the useless sanctions!

Otherwise, the next Pearl Harbor will be a lot worse than the December 7, 1941 version!