It’s probably not a more recent IAEA statement you need, about Iran’s openness to supplementary inspections, but an older one.

This, from December 2003:

“On 18 December 2003, Ambassador Salehi of Iran and the Director General of the IAEA signed an Additional Protocol to Iran’s NPT safeguards agreement, granting Agency inspectors greater authority in verifying the country’s nuclear programme. Iran has stated that it is acting in accordance with the Protocol’s provisions, pending the Protocol’s formal entry into force”.

Which is consistent with what I read at the time: Iran had implemented the Additional Protocol, voluntarily, even before the agreement went into effect.

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2003/iranap20031218.html

The Director General has shown his disingenuousness on several occasions. I’d like to see evidence from a reputable source that Iran has gone back on the additional inspections Protocol, which is what your quote from the June 5 IAEA document appears to imply.

It’s highly unlikely that the US was *not* aware of the Russian troop build-up on the South Ossetian border. You can hardly shift a wheelbarrow, today, without being picked up by US satellite surveillance, particularly in that region of the world. Russian troop movements were no doubt being monitored very closely, either by the US or by Israeli-made drones.

The August 8 Georgian attack was preceded by a number of heated exchanges between Russians and Saakashvili over Georgia’s policies and massive military build-up, assisted by the US and Israel; two parties in which Medvedev / Putin have little confidence [and with good reason]. In sum, I have a hard time believing that Georgia’s attack was a surprise to either Israel or the US.

This crisis is not over, yet. Russia remains very vulnerable to bogus Western media coverage and popular opinion, at this point. Shades of the brutal attack on Yugoslavia, in which world media played just as important a role as Nato and US troops.

I suspect that before we know it, the US will be building a “peace-keeping” ‘Camp Bondsteel’ in Georgia, the better to control any wayward drifting, energy-rich former Soviet province, while moving in on both Iran and Russia.

Seldom mentioned in the context of this conflict is (a) the deal Russia has just cut to process and deliver the quasi-totality of Turkmenistan’s natural gas, which has BushCo in near paroxysms of rage; and (b) Turkey and Iraq’s explicit refusal to cooperate with the US in an attack on Iran.

A nice big base in Georgia would solve any number of problems for US and Israel, consumed as they are by their respective diabolical obsessions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011396.html

As for the issue of IAEA, here’s a quote released June 5, read it how you will: “The Director General urges Iran to implement all measures required to build confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme, including the Additional Protocol, at the earliest possible date.” If you have a more recent quote, please provide.

http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2008/gov2008-15.pdf

As for the readiness of Russia to roll, I think of two things. It’s Russia’s border. And Georgia had begun saying things back in May. Hhere’s one thing the Russians heard on May 23 from a high ranking Georgia official: “we must return back not only Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also Abkhazians and Ossets.”

http://sojcc.ru/eng_activity/page/3/

For the Russians to move from summer training cycles to a road march and from that into an offensive in a few hours is VERY hard to believe. Could it be that Moscow orchestrated this , You know, sucked the Georgians into the attach and then did a classic armor drive into Georgia to PROTECT the poor Russians living in south.

I know a little about the way the red army handles business and I refuse to believe that they can launch a corps size attach on a few hours notice. They could not while Stalin was alive and they cannot now. No one can. It would take a week to get the trains and arty up to do a classic Russian slingshot.

Israel was never mentioned in this article. So, why both of you are huffing and buffing in defense of Israel with your shallow sophistry.
Definietely you are nothing but couple of TROLLS and mouth pieces for AIPAC and Israel.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russo_georgian_war_and_balance_power

This is a screw-up concocted in Tblisi between Saakashvili and the Israeli extemist parties which appeal to the ex-Soviet Jews in Israel.

Very interesting analysis. I was wondering why the Israelis would want to antagonize the Russians. Today on Democracy Now! they as usual was floating the same tired “War for Oil” explanation. There was little to no discussion about Israel’s involvement. The Democracy Now! narrative typically is that all roads leads to Washington. Thus Israel is off the hook for any scrutiny because the mainstream conventional wisdom promoted by the “Left” is that Israel is merely the U.S. “junior” partner. So whatever Israel does independently of Washington is the fault of Washington.

However it makes sense that Israel has its own independent interests and motives. Therefore your explanation has a great deal of resonance and is much appreciated.

This is a screw-up concocted in Tblisi between Saakashvili and the Israeli extemist parties which appeal to the ex-Soviet Jews in Israel. The link is probably the Minister of Reintegration (George Orwell would have loved that title!), Temuri Yakobashvili, who is Jewish and speaks fluent Hebrew. It was also probably Yakobashvili who bamboozled Saakashvili inor beleiving that his Israeli friends had the clout to ensure US backing.

Alexander Cockburn once put forward an excellent test for judging the credibility of conspiracy theories. They will not be credible if the plot is too complex (something always goes wrong!) or if too many people have to be in on the secret (somebody always blabs!). The idea that the Georgian attack was part of some vast US-masterminded plot certainly fails the first of those tests and probably the second as well. The idea of an Israeli-inspired screw-up makes sense, particularly give the parallels with the Israeli screw-up in Lebanon.