defiance is cooperation

from yahoo! news-

"iaea: iranian cooperation significant"

read the whole thing, but the sections of particular relevance are quoted below:

The U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday that Iran was producing less nuclear fuel than expected and praised Tehran for "a significant step forward" in explaining past atomic actions that have raised suspicions.

in related news, the league of nations praised germany for 'efficiently invading poland in such a way as to minimize civilian casualties.'

At the same time, the report confirmed that Iran continued to expand its uranium enrichment program, reflecting the Islamic republic's defiance of the U.N. Security Council. Still, U.N. officials said, both enrichment and the building of a plutonium-producing reactor was continuing more slowly than expected.

Iran promptly touted the report as supporting Iran's stand that the U.S.-led calls for a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment were unjustified.

oh, that's rich. (get it?)

more seriously, there are two things that leap out and smack the reader:
1. iran is being praised for decreasing its production of nuclear fuel that can be used for civilian and military application.. while expanding its enrichment program which has been the biggest controversy thus far. or, more simply, the iranians have less capacity for commercial nuclear fuel than expected and a proportionally (and possibly absolute; too bad we don't have access to data) higher weapons capacity. if the cognitive dissonance in the iaea's statement doesn't make you squint your eyes and shake your head in confusion, sit back, and think it through again. perhaps the iaea should consult merriam-webster. or if they don't like them, go for the gold and use oxford.
2. iran comes off looking just as foolish. "you shouldn't sanction us on our enrichment programs because your (toothless) nuclear watchdog just confirmed that we're expanding them in defiance of your earlier resolutions.. umm, wait.. let me check and see if there's a typo.. nope, that's right. take that, western imperialists. "

International Atomic Energy Agency Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen, who brokered the cooperation deal with Iran, highlighted the importance of the agreement, noting that Tehran's past refusal to answer the IAEA's questions triggered Security Council sanctions in the first place.

well that's something new. so, olli, let me get this straight: if I, in defiance of non-proliferation treaties and all that jazz, develop a nuclear weapons program and discuss wiping certain random nations off the map, it's all good as long as I answer your questions about how and why?

no, olli, no.

France, a close U.S. ally on Iran, said cooperation by Tehran was not enough to eliminate the threat of new U.N. penalties.

"As long as there is not a clear ... decision from Iran about the suspension of activities linked to enrichment, we will pursue ... looking into a third sanctions resolution," French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said in Paris.

wait. did I just see that phrase: "france, a close u.s. ally on iran"?! I need to sit back for a minute to take that in. whoa.

Iran immediately praised the U.N. agency for "its professional approach toward the case."

"This report ended all the baseless U.S. accusations against Iran," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted as saying by the state IRNA news agency. "Once again the agency confirmed validity of Iran's stances," he said, adding that "the U.S. had deceived the world over Iran's nuclear activities by claiming that Iran was reprocessing plutonium."

oh goody. professional u.n. agencies as praised by hyper-fundamentalist, potentially genocidal rogue states. there's a complement you work for years to get.

that's almost as funny as reading the list of the countries on the u.n. commission for human rights. or what obama's reaction must have been after getting endorsed by the man who oversaw the [mis]management of the iranian hostage business (who, for good measure, demonstrates his irrelevance in his writings on the ISG and of course on israel [anyone who sees the iranian problem as synonymous with that of israeli-palestinian peace has a few minor issues in the head], where he has the virtue of not being as intellectually/morally depraved as carter himself).

One of the U.N. officials also noted that construction of the plutonium-producing reactor at the city of Arak had slowed in recent months.

He said that "design difficulties, getting equipment, materials and components, and fuel technology, plus perhaps some political considerations," could be causing the delay.

The allusion to "political considerations" appeared linked to reports that Iranian officials might be considering stopping construction of the Arak reactor in another sign of good will calculated to blunt the threat of new U.N. sanctions.

so, properly understood, iran is being praised for alluding to slowly defying unsec resolutions for reasons unrelated to technical difficulty?

what the hell?

right now the enlightenment is hurting. metaphysically.