Dr. Hans Blix lecture on Disarmament - UCLA (April 3, 2008) 
Title of the lecture: "Time for a Revival of Disarmament?" Presented by the Burkle Center for International Relations. The former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix address at UCLA, coincided with the launch of his new book "Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters." He quoted from that book in his speech today and pleaded for reviving the détente and disarmament process. US-IranDr. Blix mentioned the US/Iran conflict several times during his speech. Here is an excerpt: "Positive results would be more likely to emerge from negotiations without preconditions than from the threat of the armed force. The later, the threat of the armed force may harden the stand of the country," Blix said. He got into specifics and details about Iran's nuclear program during the Q&A Session. Here are his main points:1.While economic pressures may be rational, military threats are counterproductive and justify a case for weapons. The US should offer Iran direct talks without preconditions. Suspension of Uranium enrichment as a conditon of talks is illogical and would be humiliating to Iran. "The Iranians are proud," Blix said. He said that telling Iran that they ought "to behave", while including them in the so called "axis of evil" was not conducive to constructive negotiations. 2. Offering Iran the same carrots as North Korea - Pyongyang was offered a security guarantee and normalization of ties with the US and Japan. He favors the same diplomatic strategy for Iran. In fact, Dr. Blix has been advocating this approach for over 3 years now: *One can infer that the US seems more concerned about "regime change" than the nuclear disarmament in Iran. 4. He expressed concern over Admiral Fallon's stepping down as US Mid-East commander and stated that the possibility of military confilct is greater now than a month ago. The US is trying to escalate the conflict and looking for a reason to attack Iran.
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