President Obama has finally decided what to do concerning Afghanistan, and 30,000 troops are now going to be deployed. However the Iran nuclear situation is still at a standstill. Lately, the Iran issue has been pushed to the back-burner, because of the health care plan, the Asian tour, Afghanistan and now the Copenhagen talks. However the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has brought up the nuclear problem once again when he visited with President Obama at the White House.
Mr. Erdogan claimed that the only way to solve the Iranian nuclear issue is through diplomacy. He does not believe that economic sanctions, or force are the right way to approach Iran. However, it seems that most of the international community does not see it the same way as Prime Minister Erdogan does. The lack of results that diplomacy has shown has only served to make the international community favor more economic sanctions. Obama claimed “he cannot wait forever for Iran to come to the negotiating table”(LaFranchi 2009). It looks like there may be some confrontation in the UN Security council that Turkey is part of, but not as a permanent member.
The Christian Science Monitor columnist, Howard LaFranchi, pointed out that Turkey may be showing an inclination to turn from the West and start siding with the East. However Prime Minister Erdogan claims that Turkey is only trying to find a balance between its eastern neighbors, and Western allies.
Turkey is one of the few Muslim nations that is allies with the United States so it is important that President Obama, at least gives some thought to what Turkey has to say. On the other hand the negotiations with Iran have been idle for quite a while now and it is true that the international community is pushing for something more to be done. Yet, are economic sanctions the right way to address Iran? If not what else can be done?
Sources
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1208/p02s13-usfp.html
