IRAN: AMBIGUITIES AND ISRAEL

Iran says they're not going to accept or decline the infamous "offer" tomorrow, they only want to clear up the ambiguities in it:

"Tomorrow, we will not give a definite answer. We will only discuss questions and ambiguities regarding the offer," the official said.

Remember, only the details that make this look like a reasonable offer are public. The details that will cause the Iranians to either reject the offer or just avoid answering altogether are still secret.

It's interesting how news stories acknowledge that there are ambiguities in the offer, but they don't seem to ever try to find out what those ambiguities are. The stories only say that Iran was offered a "package of incentives" and leave it at that.

It's a trap designed to make Iran look "unreasonable"...

ISRAEL

The headline from stopfundamentalism.com screams "Iran Ahmadinejad calls for annihilation of Israel ." Then the article quotes Ahmadinejad:

"The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime.
The Islamic world and the region must mobilize to remove this problem," said
Ahmadinejad at the opening of a two-day regional conference on security in
Iraq..

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Ahmadinejad is saying that the "Zionist regime" is the "problem." Is the "Zionist regime" the same as, or synonymous with, Israel? Of course not--not anymore than the "Bush regime" is the same as or synonymous with the United States.

I don't claim to be an expert on the Middle East, but it seems to me that Ahmadinejad is correct in this case: the Zionist regime (as distinct from "Israel") is seen as the problem by the Muslim world. That's not inflammatory or irresponsible, it's just a statement of fact.

I hope Operation Demonize Iran fails...