Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Venezuela-Iran Cooperation

It's such a cliché to say this, but I feel the need to say it anyway: if even the French are giving this a second look, you gotta figure SOMETHING is up.

Okay, here's the second passage:

Some of this cooperation is decidedly suspicious. The Iran-Venezuela Joint Bank, based in Tehran, was opened in April 2009 with an initial capital base of $200 million. That money is managed by the Export Development Bank of Iran, which the U.S. Treasury Department has designated a "proliferator" for providing or attempting to provide financial services to entities that advance Iran's nuclear program. It is but one of many examples of covert "sanctions-busting" financial schemes implemented by Venezuela and Iran, as New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau pointed out in The Wall Street Journal. Indeed, any assistance to Iran's nuclear program would violate UN Security Council Resolution 1737, which bans all states from supplying Iran any "items, materials, equipment, goods and technology" that could abet its enrichment activities.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain a clearer picture of the scope and extent of Venezuela's nuclear activities. Although Venezuela is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has signed a safeguards agreement with the IAEA, Chávez has refused to sign the Additional Protocol, which would give the agency broader inspection powers and obligate Venezuela to provide "the location, operational status and the estimated annual production capacity of uranium mines." If Chávez is serious about developing a civilian nuclear power program, he should affirm his commitment to nonproliferation by implementing the IAEA's Additional Protocol and clarify his dealings with Iran. Otherwise, it won't matter if he wants to be Obama's friend--the United States will consider him a rogue.

The human brain can play weird tricks sometimes for those of us who attempt to use that part of the body. Sometimes we see something that is so outlandish, so unprecedented, so unthinkable, that we can actually just pretend it's not happening. Even after we slap ourselves in the face, pinch our arms, rub our eyes, and still see that thing in front of us, it is still just so unbelievable that we're convinced that there's something else to the picture that explains this anomaly. Once in a very rare while, we see something in front of us that is just so mind-blowingly opposite of the reality on which our sanity depends, opposite of the entire framework upon which our livelihood has been built, opposite of what our career has demonstrated and opposite of what our reputation rests upon, that we simply have too much to lose by owing up to the fact that yes, the actuality in front of us right now contradicts everything we ever stood for. And nothing less.

To those of you still rubbing your eyes and asking yourselves, "Iran and Venezuela - they don't have the nerve to collaborate on something like this...they can't possibly be doing what it looks like they're doing, can they?" The answer increasingly appears to be: YES. THEY ARE. GET USED TO IT.

Next question: "The U.S. State Department/Obama Administration/Brazil/EU/UN/South America - they aren't really letting this happen...they can't possibly be letting Iran and Venezuela do what it looks like they're doing, can they?" And the answer, my friends, so far, increasingly appears to be: YES. THEY ARE. GET USED TO IT.