Any agreement with Iran was going to have to allow the Iranian government to argue that they’d gotten a good deal. Likewise, any agreement was going to be opposed by Israel and Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia’s satellites in the Gulf region. Any agreement with Iran was also destined to be opposed by President John McCain, Vice-President Sarah Palin, and Secretary of State Lindsey Graham. All of that was baked in the cake, and none of it has even a little bit to do with the details of the agreement.
There has been enormous pressure on the administration to join in a regional sectarian fight on the side of the Sunnis against the Shiites, most pressingly in Syria’s civil war, but the administration has wriggled out of that trap and has so far allowed diplomacy to prevail against the desires of the warmongers. Those who preferred Obama to Clinton because of the distinction in their positions on the authorization to use military force in Iraq now have something concrete to point to, to argue that electing Obama would lead to a more peaceful world than would electing Clinton.
Diplomacy may or may not work in these cases, but at least it is being pursued. War should always be a last resort, and I’m glad we have an administration that understands that.
Jennifer Rubin is fixing to give herself the apoplexy. It’s a good day.
First Booman made me smile; then you made me laugh out loud.
“Any agreement with Iran was also destined to be opposed by President John McCain, Vice-President Sarah Palin, and Secretary of State Lindsey Graham.”
Reading that sentence made me smile, but only for a moment until I considered what the world would look like if the election had gone the other way.
Holy shit, Batman, we would be in serious trouble. Scary beyond belief.
Elections have consequences.
That Saudi, Israel, and Neocon alliance of warmongers may not be able put together a coalition of the willing to bomb, but they must be watched. Their fall back might be to turn Iran into the new Cuba for the next 50 years.
Not sure I buy your argument about a Clinton presidency — I suspect she would have acted similarly to Obama, especially as she would have needed to reassure the liberal base that she wasn’t a warmonger or hardline partner of hardliner Netanyahu. So, easing tensions with a nuclear agreement w/Iran, in her second term — very foreseeable.
And while I applaud Obama and Kerry for this one, a major breakthrough in the ME and possibly greatly affecting our relations with that country and negatively w/Saudi Arabia, there are still plenty of tension points that Obama might need to address.
One is a nervous and ambitious China, and, last I checked, our unnecessary military build up in the Pacific, apparently Pentagon-driven but acquiesced to by Obama.
Another is Russia, and our rather chilly relations with Putin, not to mention Putin’s apparent desire to build up his military to compete with ours. Some of his European neighbor countries are getting nervous about recent Russian military maneuvers or incursions into their air space. A situation to watch closely.
Of course, if we don’t take care of things over here, in terms of toxic domestic politics and the trend towards a disappearing democracy and sense of unity, then it makes it all the more likely Russia and probably China will see an opening to move militarily while our country disintegrates.
Well, that’s my pessimistic take, from someone who watches too much Msnbc and so isn’t adequately nourished on foreign policy. But I do applaud Obama and Kerry for this important step forward.
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And if a nuclear suitcase doesn’t blow up in New York or Madrid by 2018, to what will Minister Bennett attribute that? Or do we have to wait another five years, to see if a negotiated peace really might be preferable to another U.S. invasion and occupation?
Maybe the time has finally come when the U.S. is no longer willing to serve as the Golem for Israel’s hawks?
Kinda hard to make a nuclear bomb from 5% Uranium.
That comment by Bennett made me sick. We have seen over and over again the projection of right wing authoritarians, both in Israel and here at home. Who has a suitcase bomb? Probably Israel. Who has been threatening war over peace? Israel. And after the zionist neocons already have given us 9/11 to start their PNAC Plan of Middle East destabilization and conquest!
What this NAtional ZIonist is saying should be a clear warning that the depths of zionist greed and insanity have not been fully recognized.
Time for the crossover Democratic Senators plus Chuck Schumer to toe the line in support of the President. A united Democratic front on this agreement both helps the agreement and silences the GOP.
Schumer ‘Disappointed’ With Obama’s Iran Nuclear Dealhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/schumer-senate-likely-to-push-additional-iran-sanctions-in-dec
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Don’t you mean Israel and it’s satellites in the Congress?