Negotiating In Good Faith

Faith is a strange thing.  People require it, to have and to hold faith, for example, in a Supreme Being.  People like to think of themselves as being godly in nature.  And having veneration for a Supreme Power naturally confers godliness on those who worship that god.  There are scriptures that set out provisions that the holy figure imposes upon his worshippers. 

And in Islam there is a provision for prevarication, for appearing to be agreeable, to bide one's time, and then, when the time seems right: strike.


In Islam there is a never-ending war of a spiritual and a practical nature.  It is incumbent upon fundamentalist Muslims to proselytize, by whatever means possible.  To bring non-Muslims into the warm and comforting sphere of Islam.  To widen the influence of Islam, to ensure that continually greater numbers of people recognize the superiority of Islam over all other religions, and agree to surrender to Islam.


That obligation is termed jihad; although the struggle can be an internal one to perfect oneself in the image of god, the greater need is to further the cause of Islam itself. 

And if impressive words of invitation do not move non-Muslims to accept the dominion of Islam over their lives, then violent jihad is undertaken, to use war or terror, to impress upon the infidels that Muslims are only doing their duty by slaughtering them, to achieve martyrdom for themselves, and a greater following by the terrorized for Islam.


The usefulness of biding one's time, of playing for time, until the time seems right to proceed with an original intention - be it the launching of war, or in the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran's determination to produce for itself atomic weapons - is important because it has the effect of psychically disarming an enemy who believes truth is being spoken, while offering the jihadist the opportunity to expand his vision.

"And indeed Iran raised issues that we have already discussed and added new ones.  This is disappointing.  A date for a follow-on meeting has yet to be fixed."  Herman Nackaerts, IAEA global head of Inspections

It is no secret that the IAEA has been negotiating with Tehran to produce a mutually-binding and agreed-upon accord to permit its inspectors access, immediately, to the secretive Parchin military complex.  The world body has its suspicions based on accurate sightings and verified actions that the complex, now being cleared of evidence, was used to conduct tests related to the development of nuclear arms.


But the latest talks just happen to have "failed".  The IAEA has described themselves as being "disappointed".  After all, United Nations nuclear chief Yukiya Amano had himself flown to Tehran to conduct talks with the regime.  He claimed to have been given assurances from senior Iranian officials that an agreement was certain to soon be struck.


"It should, by now, be clear to everyone that Iran is not negotiating in good faith", announced a senior Western diplomat.  A seasoned senior Western diplomat, no doubt.  A cynical, and well-versed-in-Middle-East-etiquette senior Western diplomat, without a shadow of a doubt.


"It is indirectly a deliberate and unnecessary insult to Director General Amano who recently went to Tehran in order to reach a deal", explained Pierre Goldschmidt, a former chief UN nuclear inspector.  Who opined that Iran 'probably did not want to make any concession to the IAEA just 10 days before talks in Moscow'.


Iran does deviate from time to time, from its smooth mask of ingratiating diplomacy, to reveal the real contempt it feels for infidels, apostates, and those who feel they have the right to interfere with the god-given rights of the sovereign nation of Iran.