While watching the made-for-TV charade of last week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, I began to realize that the whole thing was just a huge waste of time, personnel and money — especially with what was transpiring on the other side of the globe.

While Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy were exchanging obscure latin legal terms with Judge Alito over his bid to join the U.S. Supreme Court, the controlling legal authorities in Iran were busy as well.

Lost on many Americans in the midst of the Alito brouhaha, was the unsettling news that the Islamic Republic of Iran had removed the UN seals from some of its nuclear research facilities, with the intention of beginning the process of enriching uranium. (For all of you navel-gazing legal scholars, enriched uranium is the stuff that makes an atom bomb go boom.)

The issue of Iran's nuclear program is not a new one. As long ago as 1994, even officials of the Clinton administration went on record as saying that Iran's nuclear program had all the characteristics of a weapons program, as opposed to a peaceful energy program. One wonders if we would be in this burgeoning crisis if any of the senators who grilled Samuel Alito had devoted as much time, energy, personnel and resources to studying the problem of Iran's nukes.

Much of the news media acts as if this situation started in the last year or two. It did not. It started a long time ago — but no one wanted to confront a problem like Atomic Ayatollahs. So it is left to the current president to deal with — another problem kicked down the road by the last unwilling administration, which could have pressed this issue long before it reached crisis proportions.

So nothing until now has ever been done to stop Iran. And even now, as the Ayatollahs creep within reach of an atomic bomb, our senate and much of our nation is focused on a charade.

Over the past two years or so, France, Germany and the UK have been taking point in negotiating with Iran. Given that, can it be any wonder that the negotiations have resulted in a dead end? All three nations have extensive business interests in the Islamic Republic.

France's Total SA has the largest presence in Iran of any foreign oil company. And French telecom giant Alcatel SA has spent years modernizing Iran's telecommunications and data grids which, by the way, will come in handy as Iran builds an integrated air defense system.

German telecom giant Siemens AG, a corporation that actually got a U.S. Chamber of Commerce award not long ago for good citizenship (!), is perhaps an even better corporate citizen for the mullahcracy in Tehran. They have done hundreds of millions of dollars of projects in Iran benefiting its cellular infrastructure, its land telecommunications infrastructure and its power industry.

And for those of you who drive Mercedes' line of fine vehicles, you might be interested to know that the company just opened an auto plant in Tehran to manufacture their E-class automobiles. Those cars should look quite sporty next to the Mercedes trucks that transport Iran's missiles.

Even some British companies are active in the Islamic Republic. The British holding company Stolt-Nielsen is active in Iran's energy sector, particularly its offshore oil and gas industry. Worst of all, just last week, The Observer reported that a British firm had supplied radioactive material to Iran in a deal approved by British government officials. In retrospect, they now realize that such material can be used in a nuclear weapons program.

Is it any wonder that negotiations with Iran haven't made any headway under the leadership of the so-called EU-3?

Two of the EU-3, France and the UK, are permanent members of the UN Security Council, apparently the next stop in the Iranian nuclear saga.

It remains to be seen whether or not France or Britain will put international security over their national private commercial interests. I feel pretty good about Britain standing up for what's right when the chips are down. I am somewhat less optimistic about Jacque Chirac's France.

France and Britain may not matter anyway. Two other members of the UN Security Council are also in a position to either bring real economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on Iran, or look the other way while the Ayatollahs go atomic: Russia and Red China.

Again, both countries have extensive economic interests in Iran.

Russia has provided Iran with much of its nuclear technology and infrastructure in exchange for hard currency. They also sell Iran much of its conventional weaponry, including MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters.

Will Russia sacrifice all that business to keep Iran from joining the nuclear club? I doubt it, but maybe there is a chance if the West can bribe them with promises of making up the lost revenue.

Red China is another major arms supplier to Iran, making a lot of money off of the sale of everything from armored vehicles to missile technology. Unlike Russia, however, China is also a major customer of the Iranians. China is desperate for oil to fuel their rapidly growing economy. Iran can supply it in spades.

So now that we appear headed to the UN Security Council we must depend upon France, Russia and Red China to hold Iran's feet to the fire. That's like Samuel Alito depending on Boxer, Kennedy, Leahy and Biden to get confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court...