The past couple weeks have seen some interesting maneuvering between Iran, China, and the United States. On the one hand, we have Bush in Europe. He's already told the European Union that it should not remove the arms embargo on the People's Republic of China: "Bush administration officials are most concerned that lifting the embargo would allow the Europeans to sell such advanced technology to the Chinese that they will be able to move to a 'next generation' warfare capacity and develop the kind of sophisticated military systems that the United States has used in Afghanistan and Iraq." (So effectively, too!)

Bush also has parallel views on how to handle Iran's nuclear program, announcing his support "for European efforts to negotiate an agreement with Iran to abandon any move to produce nuclear weapons. But he offered no American commitment to join the talks, which the Europeans have wanted, saying that Iran 'needs to be held to account, not any of us.'" (Of course it's the mullahs who are erring.)

Underneath all of this rhetoric, China and Iran are growing closer, and nowhere more so than in energy: China needs it and Iran has it. "After nearly a year of talks with Iranian oil officials, China's Sinopec Group is set to sign the biggest deal Iran has negotiated in a decade. Its ripple effects over the next few years are likely to extend far beyond Iran's balance sheet. The long-term alliance with the world's fastest-growing economy could give the mullahs in control greater international security than they have enjoyed since the Islamic revolution 26 years ago. It could also seriously challenge the options open to Iran's bitterest foe—the Bush administration."

Geopolitics: Not Just for Bushes Anymore.