The Washington Times - The news of a senior U.S. envoy at the Geneva talks with Iranian negotiators could hardly count as a "groundbreaking policy shift" capable of ending the nuclear row with Tehran. Only a week after the talks, the Iranian regime raised the stakes by trumpeting the expansion of its enrichment program, underscoring the futility of the diplomatic push before it even got off the ground. This was another sad outcome of a profoundly counterproductive and inconsistent three-decade-old policy, which, if continued unabated by the West, has all the makings of a potential catastrophe an Iran bomb or a bombing of Iran.
 
Before sending its envoy to Geneva, the State Department promised that he would only be there "listening," not talking – as if more talking to the Iranian regime could improve the situation. However, the move was widely seen as yet another bold concession to an increasingly belligerent regime, which has not backed away even faintly from its threatening rhetoric, its defiance of the international community, and its killing of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. If anything, Iran's destructive meddling in both those countries, however, is a plain testament to the folly of talking to Tehran. 
 

The Weekly Blitz – April 18, 2008 - The president of the Iranian regime called it "good news." The world, however, looked on with deep concern and condemned the latest provocation by Iran’s theocracy in enriching uranium after 18 years of pursuing a covert nuclear program that many suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons capability. The Iranian regime seeks the nuclear capability to bolster its drive to dominate the Muslim world and threaten regional and world security from a position of power atop a new “Caliphate,”  (Islamic empire). This has been the dream of Khomeini’s Islamic fundamentalists since their usurping of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Regime ideologues have long pointed to Iran’s rightful place as the leader of the Muslim world in imposing their narrow and regressive socio-political and economic model, diametrically opposed to democratic and human rights values.

The Washington Times - That Tehran will not pay any heed to the third UN Security Council resolution condemning its drive to acquire nuclear weapons, stems not from the mullahs' prowess nor the ineffectiveness of the sanctions. Quite simply, the supreme leader Ali Khamenei is hell-bent on getting the bomb.

Any doubt? Take a look at the results of the March 14 Parliamentary (Majlis) elections, which a significant majority of Iranians shunned. The figures announced so far bear out what was expected long before the first ballot was cast: The supreme leader's men have captured more than two-thirds of the seats.

Middle East Times - The Iranian regime seems adept at assigning paradoxical functionalities to certain political or economic tools and mechanisms. Construction cranes, for example, are meant to help erect buildings and further economic progress everywhere else in the world. But, in Iran, they are used to hang people.

Likewise, political elections are the cornerstone of the world's representative governments, but in Iran, they are used to uphold the rule of an unelected few.

Middle East Times - In 2007, the turmoil in Pakistan culminated in the gruesome assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27. Although the epicenter of this political tremor shook Pakistan, its ripple effect was quickly felt throughout the world.

The incident was especially worrying because it demonstrated that, as the second most populous Muslim nation, Pakistan is seeing a sharp rise in Islamic fundamentalism. This trend has marred the country's political process in recent months with more bloodshed as a consequence. Aside from mounting concerns over the safety of Islamabad's nuclear stockpiles, the resulting violence has also tended to spill over into neighboring countries like Afghanistan.