Whose Plan Is It Really?

What Herb thinks

Whose Plan Is It Really?

On June 6, 2006, the EU's Javier Solana delivered his six-nation incentive package to Iran Read about it here. As you may recall, according to Google, this was the first time Solana became the number one news story in America. And, Solana held the position all day. The image below was from late afternoon.

Soon, elements of Solana's incentive package became known. Among other things, Solana was offering Iran a collective security arrangement over the entire Middle East region, and a nuclear free zone (see below). If you recall, this was around the same time that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert was reported to have let it slip that Israel was a nuclear power. In the language of international diplomacy, implications were there; Israel probably wanted the deal too.

On January 7, 2007, King Abdullah II pitched the 2002 Arab Peace Plan before a joint session of Congress. Abdullah said the Arab Peace Plan offered Israel:

"A collective peace treaty"
"Normal relations with every Arab state"
"Collective security guarantees for all the countries in the region"
"An end to the conflict ... a dream"

Notice the third item: Collective security guarantees for all the countries in the region. As I pointed out before, this idea is part of Solana's incentive package to Iran.

According to today's news, the Arab states have gathered and formally reactivated the 2002 Saudi Peace Plan. And wouldn't you know it, the EU's Solana was there.

Included in the reports from the Arab summit are warnings that the Middle East region could soon be engulfed in a nuclear arms race. In other words, in the words of international diplomacy, Iran had better accept the Arab offer or else.

And, this brings us full circle, back to Solana's proposal to Iran -- the deal he presented on June 6, 2006. It offered Iran a Middle East nuclear free zone.

Now it's official. We have the 2002 Arab Peace Plan.

So, whose plan is it really?

Here's my What Herb Thinks for 06-06-06

03-29-2007

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