Related: Iran Deal Done
Yeah, it's a bad deal, harrumph, harrumph!
"An inside look at how the Iran talks unfolded" by Matt Viser Globe Staff July 14, 2015
VIENNA — Tensions between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, boiled over just as talks entered the crucial stretch. In an ornate 19th-century chamber decorated with fresh flowers, the top diplomats began shouting at each other so loudly that it was clearly audible to aides and security personnel stationed outside the heavy wooden doors.
I guess the Globe was saving what the blogs and alternative media already reported for a "scoop" lead.
The encounter between the Boston Brahmin and the American-educated Iranian — who became close over the past two years and are on a first-name basis — grew so heated that it could be heard in a dining room next door. One of Kerry’s aides rushed in to warn them to quiet down, according to a US official who provided an accounting of the exchange. It was most undiplomatic.
The shouting match — a little over a week before Tuesday’s historic deal was sealed — began after Zarif accused Kerry of changing terms of an aspect of the deal, while Kerry offered a robust rebuttal attempted to back away from some of the commitments that had previously been agreed to. Recriminations flew and both sides began yelling.
How odd. That is my print. The web version change comes after.
The confrontation laid bare long-simmering tensions between two countries working to overcome decades of distrust and reach a historic deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It underscored frustrations spawned by mixed signals, shifting demands, and uncertainty on both sides over whether the opposite negotiating team really wanted a deal.
At one point, Kerry directly questioned whether Zarif had been empowered by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini to come to final terms, officials said Tuesday.
“The secretary asked foreign minister Zarif directly, ‘Do you have the authority to negotiate this deal and bring it to closure?’ ” said a senior administration official. “Zarif was explicit that he did.”
With the demands of their respective leaders looming in the background, the relationship between Kerry and Zarif formed the centerpiece of the exhausting, sometimes testy, and ultimately successful negotiations in Vienna that led to the history-making deal announced Tuesday.
You know, I said I was going to dispense with the self-adulating public relations program in the newspaper. Them altering that phrase and sentence says it all. They serve power.
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Did you see the continued insult of Zarif, what with his "theatrical sensibility and flair for the dramatic, shouting down updates from his hotel balcony to the reporters craning for snippets of news?”
"Iran nuclear deal secured after nearly two years of talks" by Matt Viser Globe Staff July 14, 2015
VIENNA — The United States and five other world powers secured a deal with Iran on Tuesday morning to curtail its ability to build a nuclear weapon in return for lifting crippling economic sanctions, overcoming decades of distrust and concluding nearly two years of tense negotiations that were capped by a marathon diplomatic finale that lasted 18 days.
The 109-page agreement aims to remove a threat to regional stability in the Middle East, seeking to solve one of the region’s most enduring problems by drawing Iran into greater international cooperation.
The deal will go down as one of the most defining moments of President Obama’s foreign policy legacy by reshaping the relationship with an avowed American adversary in the Middle East. It will also be one of the signature accomplishments of the long career of Secretary of State John Kerry, who secured the accord despite deep skepticism, frequent criticism, and, even in the final weeks, a broken leg.
That all seems so familiar, like I read it just yesterday (because I did).
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Even before the full details were known, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a persistent critic of the talks, blasted the accord, saying it was “a bad mistake of historic proportions.”
“Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said in Jerusalem. “Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted. Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world.”
And after all, that's his job.
The pact was striking in that it was forged by two avowed adversaries who have barely spoken since Iran seized the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days. Thirteen years ago, President George W. Bush labeled Iran one of three countries in the “axis of evil.”
Iranian leaders still refer to the United States as “the Great Satan.”
If the shoe fits.... the death tolls around the planet from U.S-initiated and instigated wars proves it.
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One of the last hurdles — and one that is bound to spark opposition — is that a United Nations arms embargo would be lifted within five years for conventional weapons and eight years for ballistic weapons. The embargo could be lifted even sooner if Iran is able to prove to international inspectors that it doesn’t have any covert nuclear materials.
The United States had opposed lifting the embargo.
Sanctions will start to be lifted as soon as Iran proves it has met the requirements for increased monitoring and that it dismantled some of its nuclear infrastructure. At that point, the vast majority of sanctions that have been imposed on Iran would be lifted, bringing in hundreds of billions of dollars in fresh revenue from sales of oil and the unfreezing of foreign-held Iranian assets.
“This is a historic moment,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran said as he attended a final session with negotiators, which in addition to the United States and Iran included Britain, China, Germany, France, and Russia. “We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody, but it is what we could accomplish, and it is an important achievement for all of us. Today could have been the end of hope on this issue. But now we are starting a new chapter of hope.”
God bless 'em.
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Kerry grew reflective Tuesday as he emotionally recounted serving in the Vietnam War just after college. He said he vowed then, if given the opportunity, he would do everything within his power to prevent war....
This the same guy who voted for the Iraq invasion and supported the Libyan campaign?
Related:
“I think that in the next days, the government of Afghanistan’s response to anticorruption efforts are a key test of its ability to regain the confidence of the.... American people [who] are prepared to support with hard-earned tax dollars and with most importantly, with the treasure of our country — the lives of young American men and women.... and say, ‘Hey, that’s something worth dying for.’ ’’
Who said that?
He didn't learn the lessons of Vietnam at all. Or he was a co-opted agent all along.
Iran is expected to adopt the so-called Additional Protocol, a UN statute that subjects it to more intrusive inspections and could allow officials to detect Iranian efforts to build a bomb.
Well, they will be able to detect it. Can't really hide that stuff.
International inspectors would have access to military sites if needed. If Iran denies access, sanctions could fall back into place.
Administration officials have stepped back from the idea that there would be access to Iran’s nuclear sites “anytime, anywhere,” as some had declared previously.
“We don’t think that anytime, anywhere inspections are feasible,” a senior administration official said. “It’s just not something that happens anywhere in the world. While it’s a nice thing to say, it simply doesn’t exist.”
Keep that in mind for lower down.
One of the most difficult issues to resolve was how and when to relieve sanctions —one of the biggest boons to Iran will be allowing the country to further open its oil-rich country to the international market. Frozen foreign accounts and sanctions against Iranian banks have also isolated the country’s financial system. Iran would remain on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, however, and sanctions related to its support for terrorism and human rights violations would remain in place....
The United States and its allies are the biggest sponsors in the world.
While the talks centered on Iran’s nuclear program, top officials on both sides believe a deal could be a game-changing development in the Middle East....
Yeah.
One unclear aspect was the fate of several Americans held in Iran, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. While those held might not have been part of formal talks, senior administration officials would not say whether there was an informal arrangement or whether their release would be seen as a good-will gesture....
He will be released at some appropriate time in the future.
Maybe another October Surprise?
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The capstone of a career is a BAD DEAL!
"Arab states denounce Iran nuclear deal" by Loveday Morris and Hugh Naylor Washington Post July 15, 2015
BAGHDAD — The Obama administration expects the Iranian nuclear deal announced Tuesday to usher in an era of enhanced security in the Middle East. But it has been greeted with deep skepticism by some Arab nations worried it may do the opposite: allow Iran to fund proxy wars and extend its regional influence.
Saudi Arabia, Iran’s chief adversary in the region, has been one of the strongest critics of a deal that offers a gradual lifting of international sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.
One Saudi diplomat described the agreement as ‘‘extremely dangerous’’ and said it would give a green light to his own government to start a nuclear energy program.
Why, and if so, do a deal.
Meanwhile, Israeli leaders across the political spectrum condemned the pact in stark apocalyptic language, calling it a historic mistake that frees Iran to sponsor global terror while assembling the information and materials to build a nuclear weapon.
‘‘Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons,’’ said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday. ‘‘Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted.’’
With the lifting of economic sanctions, Netanyahu warned, ‘‘Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror.’’
Yeah, I saw that.
Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition partner, education minister Naftali Bennett said, ‘‘Today a terrorist nuclear superpower is born, and it will go down as one of the darkest days in world history.’’
So when does Israel plan to detonate a nuclear bomb -- they have 'em, you know -- in another false flag attack for which they are now infamous, and where? Chicago? That'll show Obama!
Netanyahu’s fellow Likud member, Science Minister Danny Danon, said the Iran pact ‘‘is like providing a pyromaniac with matches.’’
Or giving weapons to Israel, same thing.
Many Israeli leaders view a nuclear Iran as an existential threat to their state.
Yeah, you just go on ignoring the 25,000 Jews living peacefully in Iran (Netanyahu was saying the SAME THINGS TEN YEARS AGO if not LONGER)!
Israeli social media accounts were filled with images of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who pushed a policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler and the Nazis on the eve of World War II.
OMG! It is DESPERATION on the CUSPS of MADNESS!!
Related: Number of Jews globally back up to 1939 levels, report says
Now you guys look foolish and hysterical without a shred of credibility. What scum. Hollering anti-Semitism at every turn when they don't get their goddamn way!
Of course, the rise is in Israel where the militant fundamentalist terrorist Jews are propagating like crazy. But no right of return for Palestinians!
Even the Globe picked up the gauntlet.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders blasted the deal even as negotiators in Vienna were still making the announcement and providing the first details of the deal.
They were blasting it without even having seen it, which means they wouldn't have been happy with anything.
‘‘Israel will defend itself,’’ Bennett warned, vowing that military action is still an option for the Jewish state, which feels itself in the crosshairs from a belligerent enemy, where last week protesters in Tehran were chanting ‘‘Death to Israel!’’
Are they threatening military action like you asshole Zionist whiners?
Three years ago, Israelis were debating at the highest levels whether it might be necessary for Israel or the United States, or both countries, to launch aerial strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
If Israel does so now, they will be know as the villain of all time. The radiation that will be kicked up will make Fukushima look like a sandbox.
Even as Israel reasserts its rights to act independently and hit Iran if threatened, a unilateral Israeli strike is not more likely today, Israeli defense analysts say, because the United States is committed to making the Iran pact work and Israel is not likely to act alone.
That is the way Netanyahu and the rest are talking, and I no longer believe a Jewish War Pre$$ that claims wars aren't coming, and them boom, surprise!!!
The Arabs fear that removing the sanctions could produce a flood of cash and embolden Shi’ite Iran to seek a stronger hand in the region, where it has battled Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies for influence.
Syria, a key ally of Iran, quickly expressed its support for the deal. In comments published by the official Syrian news agency SANA, President Bashar Assad called the deal a ‘‘great victory.’’ The Syrian leader described the international sanctions placed on Iran as ‘‘unfair.’’
In Iraq, which has a Shi’ite majority, officials have welcomed the prospect of a deal. But Sunnis fear the accord will mean they are further marginalized.
Sectarianism is the great cover for covert operations.
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Related: Iran celebrates nuclear deal, tempered by hard-liner warnings
I don't trust the translation.
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Operation Mockingbird
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
You see why?
If I want to find out what is going on in Iran I'll look at presstv.
"While GOP attacks Iran deal, Democrats cite strong support" by Annie Linskey Globe Staff July 14, 2015
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders split along party lines in reaction to news that a deal to lift sanctions on Iran had been reached, with Republicans loudly denouncing the terms while Democrats said they wanted more time to evaluate the details.
Yeah, turns out the Republicans are even more rabid Zionists than Democrats, who aren't supporting Kerry and the president. They need more time to evaluate, letting AIPAC know they are $u$ceptible to voting no (don't want that primary challenge, either).
House Speaker John Boehner, in his morning news conference, pledged to “do everything we can to stop it” if the deal is “as bad as I think it is,” but the math is working against the Republicans in this case, even though they control Congress. President Obama promised Tuesday morning to veto any effort by Congress to scuttle the deal. That means Republicans would need two-thirds of lawmakers in both the Senate and the House to override the veto, which would be impossible unless large numbers of Democrats turn against Obama and his legacy foreign policy deal.
Yeah, this is ALL on THEM! This is NOT a FILIBUSTER VOTE!
A frustrated Senator John McCain speaking in a hallway just a few feet from the Senate floor, said, “It can be undone by a Republican president who cares about the safety of this nation.”
There it is. Your next president will be a Republican.
And he's wrong. The next president can't just break an international agreement.
Well, he (or she) can, but that would make them.... oh.
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Pro-Israel groups — and even just passionate individuals — were already lobbying members of Congress against the deal on Tuesday as word spread that it had been reached.
Yeah, passionate individuals. They fast tracked us on the TPP, folks.
Representative Steve Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that he started getting calls in his office “before the ink was dry” on the agreement.
All the more reason to vote in favor of the deal.
This POLITICAL PRESSURE is SO OUT THERE it is EXPOSING the U.S. CONGRE$$ as being nothing but a Zionist and Israeli tool.
If they OVERRIDE a VETO, you might as well dismiss them all and move the Israeli Knesset to Washington D.C.
And Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, predicted that Israel would lead an all-out lobbying effort against the deal. “I very much regret that because I believe in my heart of hearts that Israel is much better off with this agreement than not with this agreement.”
Yup, can't even save the Jews from themselves. That's why I say f*** 'em. They are destroying themselves. They don't need any help from Nazis, Islamics, whatever.
One opponent walked up to Senator Bernie Sanders as he sipped coffee in the Senate cafeteria. “I’m from Israel,” the man said, “Only one request. Vote no for the agreement.” (Sanders, who supports the deal, told the man the two “disagree.”)
You know, unless he is a dual national traitor, he's opinion doesn't count for shit!!!
Sorry for getting a LITTLE PEEVED HERE, but this ZIONIST PRESSURE is UNSEEMLY!!!!!
I expect the Sanders surge to soon slow; in fact, he's already becoming old news.
White House officials began reaching out to a number of members of Congress yesterday — with Vice President Joe Biden making some calls to uneasy Democrats.
If they cave on this, they will be the MOST CRAVEN QUISLINGS in the HISTORY of the WORLD!!!
Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said it is highly unlikely a presidential veto would be overridden.
“At this point, that’s not a scenario that we think is going to happen,” he said.
Oooops, miscalculated again.
Of course, he's probably right. AmeriKan corporations will be left behind if Congre$$ scuttles the deal. That's why they are doing this. What did you think, the altrui$tic AmeriKan search for peace (as we move 75% of the world's weapons)?
Earnest cited strong support among House Democrats in particular for the Iran agreement, including a letter supporting a preliminary Iran agreement reached in April that was signed by “enough Democrats to sustain the president’s veto.”
Then why is Biden making the calls to "uneasy" Democrats?
Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted that the largest hurdle for Democrats would be “reviewing it and understanding everything about it.” And Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate minority whip, said that he’s spoken to 15 to 20 of his colleagues and “on the Democratic side they’ve all said, ‘We’re going to take the time to read it.’ ”
Oh, gonna read it!
Rivero was right yesterday. They don't have time to be bothered with authorizing wars, dealing with the economy, environment, health and safety, the oversight of Wall Street banks, they fast tracked trade tyranny, didn't have time to read the Patriot Act or subsequent surveillance bills, nope, but this, this they gonna read!
Btw, 20 Democrats is not enough to sustain a veto.
“This is one of the most complex agreements, maybe in half a century,” said Representative Bill Keating, a Massachusetts Democrat who said an Obama aide contacted him just before he attended a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the bill Tuesday morning.
Some fissures within the Democratic Caucus were forming, including skepticism from Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
“I’m concerned that the deal ultimately legitimizes Iran as a threshold-nuclear state,” he said in a statement. “I’m concerned the red lines we drew have turned into green lights.”
Menendez likes preteen Dominican girls. Blackmail works.
McCain, a longtime critic of the negotiations, predicted that Iran would “continue their aggression across the Middle East” and now would be able to fund conquests with money pouring in from the West.
OMG! He is speaking of his own nation, the government of which he is a part.
He was particularly concerned that inspectors will be kept out of some areas, making it impossible to evaluate whether Iran was truly giving up nuclear ambitions. “The original negotiating stance was we would be able to go anywhere, anytime,” he said. “Now we have conceded that it would be for key facilities?”
Told you to remember that from above. Means sh** coming out the mouth of McCain.
The top GOP presidential contenders have been critical of the agreement. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker predicted that the deal will be remembered as “one of America’s worst diplomatic failures.”
His campaign was up and running, but then the Globe took a break for a while.
See: Scott Walker declares presidential candidacy
I saw 2 minutes of CBS overnight and Walker was rabid about Obama and ISIS. Globe didn't hear a word of it I guess. So much for their credibility.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush called the deal “appeasement.”
Playing to Israel was he?
He's supposed to be the guy to beat, but he's been getting trumped in the polls lately. He's fighting with his former friend Rubio, pre$umably because he is taking cash and advisers away from him, and his brother isn't helping matters either.
Hey, if you can't take the heat....
Meanwhile, leaders in the Democratic field supported the measure, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was on Capitol Hill Tuesday to pitch her economic plan to her former colleagues.
What empty words coming from her. She better be careful or she will become stuck in a deadly Webb.
“As president, I would be absolutely devoted to assuring the agreement is followed,” she said.
You know, that could very well backfire on her. Trumped, if you will, even if the pre$$ is controlled (haven't seen any e-mails lately). It's become the hot issue, and and some views are unwelcome even if they are popular.
"Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump criticized US border and trade policies Saturday in a fiery speech before a packed, flag-waving crowd in Phoenix. In Las Vegas, Trump declared that the problem of illegal immigration needed to be solved but drew scattered groans when he suggested that a wall should be built along the US-Mexico border. Trump asserted that he would have more positive results in dealing with China and Russia if he were president and said he could be pals with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s speech was filled with insults leveled at business partners such as Univision and NBC that have dropped him in the wake of his comments that Mexican immigrants bring drugs and crime to the United States and are rapists."
Of course, he could have bought the crowds, right, and if a wall is good enough for Israel it is good enough for us! I mean, the rearrests and detentions (lucky you weren't tortured) really need to end, and he is right (according to the government).
The closed-minded Massholes up here hate him, but the fact that the pre$$ and Republican e$tabli$hment hate him has to count for something. Rich guy can't be bribed by lobbyists. Not too worry. They'll steal the vote from him if nothing else.
Btw, have you seen his campaign logo?
There is another female candidate in the race in case you forgot:
"Carly Fiorina, a 60-year-old cancer survivor, former corporate titan, and current longshot for the Republican presidential nomination, who watched one of her two stepdaughters deal with addiction for years before dying at age 34 in 2009, has proposed conducting surveys from the White House on policy questions to increase the role of the citizenry in governance. Citizens, she said, would be invited to weigh in through their smartphones, much the way reality television contests are decided."
Got my vote. Only problem is, the power elite and political cla$$ don't want true democracy or citizen participation. Just show up and vote for one of the two prescreened, preselected, corporate candidates they throw up every two or four years. That way they can claim legitimacy and the mantle of will of the people as they do things in our names to which we object. Open to fraud, too, just like the voting machines.
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I pray to Christie the deal isn't a joke.
"Iran deal is a step toward reimagining the Middle East" by Stephen Kinzer July 14, 2015
Pieces on the global chessboard are not nailed permanently into place.
That's neo-con terminology.
With Iran, as recently with Cuba, President Obama has proven that world leaders can move the pieces when it is in their interest. This will be his greatest foreign policy legacy.
The newly announced accord between Iran and six outside powers deals only with the nation’s nuclear program. Its true meaning, though, is far greater. It is a step toward reimagining the Middle East and America’s role there.
Hostility between the United States and Iran is a 36-year-old institution in global politics. Poisoned relationships like these fall into patterns that are amazingly difficult to break. Anger takes on a momentum of its own. Each party looks for new reasons to detest the other. This is the spiral Obama now seeks to break.
The central achievement of this new accord, at least from the US perspective, it that it all but guarantees Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. This is a strategic breakthrough for which Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry deserve great credit. Unless the accord falls apart, they have removed a profoundly destabilizing factor from Middle East politics.
The accord also eases economic sanctions on Iran, which may lead Iran toward more wealth, power and influence. That prospect terrifies some longtime American partners, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. Obama, however, believes it could be in America’s interest.
It's a small thing, but....
Iran, as the heart of Shiite Islam, is a militant enemy of radical Sunni movements like ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. If the United States is truly dedicated to fighting those movements, Iran would be a logical partner.
What if the United States is not dedicated to fighting them, but creating them?
Business opportunities also push the two countries together. Iran is the world’s last big untapped consumer market, with nearly 80 million literate, Westernized people eager for much that the US produces. Since Iran has rich oil and gas reserves to pay for what it buys, potential profits are enormous.
Iran influences events in other parts of the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Obama is betting that bringing it out of the cold will give it a greater stake in regional stability — and perhaps greater willingness to compromise in regional disputes.
The framing of all this is backwards and upside down. It's the EUSrael Empire that is stirring up the trouble along with their Arab lackeys.
If the new accord comes into force, Iran will become less isolated. Business will boom. Iranians will become richer. So will their government, which will use its wealth to support friends in the region.
This is what terrifies the Israelis and Saudis. They fear not that Iran will violate the accord, but the opposite — that Iran will scrupulously observe it and use it as a springboard to greater regional power. Obama believes that a stable, self-confident, prosperous Iran will be good for the Middle East. Others consider Iran’s influence incurably malign, and prefer to keep it poor and isolated.
Iran’s behavior will be crucial in calming fears about its regional ambitions. Reassuring gestures toward Israel and Saudi Arabia would help.
Israel just reserved the right to bomb them for no reason. Maybe a reassuring gesture from Netanyahu, not suck it, would help.
What a crude tribe. I don't even put stuff like that here despite the occasional curse or swear.
So would the release of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent who has been held without trial in Tehran for nearly a year.
Just wait a bit.
Opposition to this accord in Washington is based less on Iran’s actions than on its demonic image. Memories of its past sins — especially the hostage crisis of 1979-80 — burn in American hearts and blind us to our national interest. We take at face value what Iran’s bitterest enemies tell us. Iran as a country that has caused us great harm, and overlook the harm we have caused Iran.
I don't take Israeli war propaganda and lies at face value; in fact, I'm more than likely to dismiss them out of hand as they deserve.
Obama has ruptured this paradigm. His new accord is about more than Iran. It is welcome proof that sometimes, the United States can change when the world changes.
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I'm surprised Kinzer didn't mention Operation Ajax, nor the shooting down of the Flight 655.
Related: On Turkey’s border, chaos looms
Add it to the collections.
Globe has more views on the Iran deal, but I turn to the editorials for solutions:
"Iran deal is better than no deal at all" by The Editorial Board July 15, 2015
After two years of grueling negotiations, the Obama administration has finally pulled off a historic deal with Iran that resolves — at least for the time being — one of the most pressing foreign policy challenges facing the world: concerns that Iran could be building a nuclear bomb.
The agreement, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions that have crippled the country, is far from perfect. No diplomatic compromise ever is. The deal’s biggest flaw is that it curbs Iran’s production of enriched uranium for only a decade. Limits on Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium last slightly longer: 15 years.
Nonetheless, this deal is better than the status quo. Iran currently possesses 10,000 kilograms of enriched uranium. Under the deal, the country will be forced to reduce that to 300 kilograms. Iran currently has about 20,000 centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium. Under the deal, it will be forced to dismantle all but 5,000 of them. Without an agreement, Iran would almost certainly return to full-scale uranium enrichment, forcing the United States and its allies closer to a possible military confrontation at a time of great instability in the region.
The deal buys the United States at least a decade of peace with Iran, after which a future US president will reevaluate the situation and decide if Iran’s uranium enrichment program still represents a threat. Nothing under the agreement stops a future US president from exercising a military option against Iran at a later date.
That's okay -- unless a Republican wins the White House in 2016, right?
I mean, McCain said....
The hope is that the next 10 years will put Iran on a different path. Perhaps the strongest aspect of the agreement is that it provides for “snap back” sanctions if Iran cheats, enshrined in a legally-binding UN resolution.
Those who argue that the Obama administration should have piled on more sanctions instead of striking an agreement misunderstand the way international sanctions on Iran have worked. In order to hurt Iran’s economy, the United States needed to get other countries to cooperate, including India, China, Japan, and South Korea, which all rely on Iranian oil.
So does Israel, who is curiously absent from this editorial.
These countries only agreed to reduce their trade with Iran temporarily, for the specific purpose of getting Iran to the negotiation table. Their cooperation would not have lasted indefinitely. The State Department was already forced to grant waivers to a slew of countries for doing business with Iran. Had US officials walked away from negotiations without good reason, they would have had a hard time convincing the rest of the world to continue the embargo.
It is what I said above. Thus the veto will hold.
To be sure, in the coming weeks and months, many in Congress will try to kill this deal. Conservatives will accuse President Obama of weakness. They ought to remember that it was George W. Bush — not Obama — who first set out to negotiate with Iran. And while Obama’s veto power could likely protect the deal in the event of a rejection by Congress, nothing would make America look weaker in the eyes of the world than the defeat of the president in a partisan vote on an issue as important as this.
If it happens, you know which party to blame and why.
For months, critics have accused Obama of making too many concessions. But so far, it looks as though Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the one who folded. As recently as last week, he rejected a 10-year curb on Iran’s nuclear program and demanded that all sanctions be lifted immediately. But the agreement clearly spells out a decade of restrictions, and lifts sanctions in stages, as Iran fulfills its end of the bargain. Indeed, some US sanctions won’t be lifted at all: The US trade embargo with Iran, put in place in the wake of the 1979 hostage crisis, will remain in place, with the exception of food, carpets, and airplane parts.
That’s a sign that relations between the United States and Iran will take years, if not decades, to thaw.
Related:
"This treaty is not the millennium. It will not resolve all conflicts, or cause the [Zionists] to forego their ambitions, or eliminate the dangers of war. It will not reduce our need for arms or allies or programs of assistance to others. But it is an important first step--a step towards peace--a step towards reason--a step away from war..... According to the ancient Chinese proverb, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Who said that?
US officials have vowed to continue their efforts to block Iran’s support for terrorism and its troublesome meddling in Yemen, Lebanon, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Khamenei has vowed to continue his regime’s revolutionary struggle against the United States. “Prepare yourselves for more fight against Arrogance,” he tweeted three day ago. But Tuesday, as the deal was announced, his Twitter account fell silent.
Right when the Iran coverage did.
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Yup, a bad deal better than no deal.
Here is another bad deal:
"IMF says some Greek debt may be unpayable" by Jack Ewing New York Times July 14, 2015
FRANKFURT — The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it would remain involved in Greece’s bailout only if eurozone leaders agreed on a plan that would make the country’s debt manageable for decades to come.
The aggressive stance sets up a standoff with Germany and other eurozone creditors, which have been reluctant to provide additional debt relief.
The IMF, in a report released publicly on Tuesday, proposed that eurozone creditors should consider letting Athens write off part of its huge debt or at least make no payments on its eurozone debt for 30 years.
A new rescue program for Greece “would have to meet our criteria,” a senior IMF official told reporters on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “One of those criteria is debt sustainability.”
The official spoke as the IMF disclosed a report it submitted to eurozone officials before a weekend meeting to consider the new bailout deal for Greece.
**********
Germany and other countries, including the Netherlands and Finland, are loath to grant Greece easier terms, which are a tough sell to their own voters. But Germany in particular is anxious for the IMF to continue monitoring Greece. The implied threat by the organization to pull out increases pressure for Germany to compromise....
The IMF said in its report that a write-down could be avoided, but only if creditors extended the schedule for Greece to repay its debt. The only other alternative to a haircut would be for the eurozone countries to give Greece the money it needs to repay them....
Haircut is a fancy way of saying stealing people's savings -- all the money can be passed back to bankers as soon as its "given."
Despite the IMF’s help in making the case for Greek debt relief, the fund and Athens have an increasingly antagonistic relationship. Greece, which missed a big loan payment to the fund last month and another smaller one on Monday, has fought to escape IMF oversight....
Antagonism aside, the IMF in recent weeks has been an important ally on the debt-relief issue....
IMF is a hero according to the NYT, even as "Greece cannot receive any more financial aid from the IMF until it catches up on its payments."
--more--"
Related:
"Stocks climbed broadly as investors who had been fretting over the Greek debt crisis and Chinese stock market turmoil turned their attention to the US economy and corporate earnings. Earnings for S&P 500 companies will fall 4.4 percent from a year earlier, S&P Capital IQ predicts — the first drop since 2009. The market rose broadly as JPMorgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson posted stronger-than-expected quarterly profits.
What a $hock!
A US report showed Americans cut back on spending at retailers by 0.3 percent last month, the weakest showing since February.
Related: U.S. Economy Back on Track
And they wonder why we no longer believe them?
Some investors interpreted that as good for stocks: It may make the Fed more cautious when it starts raising rates for the first time in nine years. ‘‘It’s back to the mind-set that bad news is good news,’’ said James Abate, at Centre Funds. ‘‘We think [the Fed] will raise rates in September, but we don’t think it will be an aggressive tightening cycle.’’
Paging George Orwell.
Investors were also watching Greece after it struck a deal with creditors. Its prime minister must convince lawmakers to back tax hikes and spending cuts by Wednesday to get emergency loans and reopen banks, but he faces dissent in his own party."
Reminds one of Obama, Iran, and the Democrats.
And look at what they are now blaming for the glitch shutdown in the middle of the trading day.
Time for lunch; here are some letters and other things for you to read.
After Lunch Updates:
I come back to this?
Netanyahu: Nuclear Deal Threatens U.S., Israel
And up comes the lunch.
4 p.m. check:
Obama: Iran Deal Makes Our World Safer
Israel Intends Blitzkrieg Against Iran Nuclear Deal
Greece : The Straw that Breaks the Euro Area- Full Integration or an Amicable Split
