Victory for Iran

[B-Man]

The White House chose not to attach an irrelevant matter of internal Iranian criminal law to an international agreement on non-proliferation?

 

You're criticizing them for doing something RIGHT for once?

 

I respectfully disagree Tom.

 

Americans being held in Iran is not n irrelevant issue.

 

"This was not the appropriate time" is exactly the claim by the State department.

 

 

I would state that when you are directly sitting across the table from Iranian officials for the first time in years that is EXACTLY the time to bring up the issue of American Citizens being held.

 

Obviously you do not.

 

 

.

[DC Tom]

I respectfully disagree Tom.

 

Americans being held in Iran is not n irrelevant issue.

 

"This was not the appropriate time" is exactly the claim by the State department.

 

 

I would state that when you are directly sitting across the table from Iranian officials for the first time in years that is EXACTLY the time to bring up the issue of American Citizens being held.

 

Obviously you do not.

 

It's irrelevant to nuclear proliferation, not to mention four of the six parties at the table at the time.

 

Never mind the fact that he was tried, convicted, and is serving time for breaking Iranian law. I submit that having just signed a non-proliferation agreement (weak though it may be), it was not the time to throw out "Oh, by the way, can you change your sovereign laws concerning religion as well?" That would be stupid politics on many levels, not limited to the obvious rejoinder that he's getting a fairer shake and more due process than anyone at Gitmo.

 

It should be addressed - the administration should request Pastor Saeed's repatriation to the US, and Iran would be stupid not to grant it (as a goodwill gesture alone). But not tacking it on to nuclear proliferation negotiations was a rare example of common sense in an administration bereft of it.

[dayman]

Obviously. It would be nice if some posters would just about they will blast anything we do so long as Obama is president.

[3rdnlng]

Obviously. It would be nice if some posters would just about they will blast anything we do so long as Obama is president.

 

Time for an edit.

[B-Man]

Obviously. It would be nice if some posters would just about they will blast anything we do so long as Obama is president.

 

 

LOL.....

 

Obviously, if you had read some of the links and educated yourself on the issue, you would be aware that there has been concern and criticism from both side of the aisle on this "tentative" agreement.

 

but its easier to trot out the "same old" cliched implications.

 

.

[IDBillzFan]

LOL.....

 

Obviously, if you had read some of the links and educated yourself on the issue, you would be aware that there has been concern and criticism from both side of the aisle on this "tentative" agreement.

 

but its easier to trot out the "same old" cliched implications.

 

.

 

It's going to take some time for the more dug-in liberals to accept that the way Obama managed to keep his pledge for more bi-partisan efforts in DC was to have both sides of the aisle finally find him completely incompetent.

[DC Tom]

LOL.....

 

Obviously, if you had read some of the links and educated yourself on the issue, you would be aware that there has been concern and criticism from both side of the aisle on this "tentative" agreement.

 

but its easier to trot out the "same old" cliched implications.

 

.

 

He's not wrong. There is a reflexive bashing of anything he does as the worst thing in the world.

 

But not even a stopped clock is always incorrect.

[4merper4mer]

Even sooner than I thought. John Kerry is a doormat and this is just the first wipe of Iranian feet on his chest.

[Koko78]

Even sooner than I thought. John Kerry is a doormat and this is just the first wipe of Iranian feet on his chest.

 

Is anyone really surprised that Obama bent over and took it from the Iranians?

[Tiberius]

I respectfully disagree Tom.

 

Americans being held in Iran is not n irrelevant issue.

 

"This was not the appropriate time" is exactly the claim by the State department.

I would state that when you are directly sitting across the table from Iranian officials for the first time in years that is EXACTLY the time to bring up the issue of American Citizens being held.

Obviously you do not.

.

 

Yet more proof that Reagans dealings with Iran have poisoned diplomacy. The Iranians lea nerd through the Iran contra deals that hostages are valuable and weak presidents will pay handsomely for them. Reagan made hostage taking profitable

[4merper4mer]

A picture of John Kerry just after the deal was signed:

 

If only we had completed immigration reform first:

 

[DC Tom]

Yet more proof that Reagans dealings with Iran have poisoned diplomacy. The Iranians lea nerd through the Iran contra deals that hostages are valuable and weak presidents will pay handsomely for them. Reagan made hostage taking profitable

 

Do you intentionally take unbelievably stupid positions on topics just to avoid any pretense of agreeing with me, or is it just some sort of unfortunate reflex?

[Koko78]

"The stagflation in 1391 was unparalleled," Rouhani said, referring to the Iranian year that ended in March. During that year, the economy contracted by 6 percent, while inflation rose above 40 percent, he said.

The International Monetary Fund expects Iran's economy will shrink 1.5 percent this year in inflation-adjusted terms, after an estimated 1.9 percent contraction last year which was the biggest since 1988, when Iran's eight-year war with Iraq ended.

http://news.yahoo.com/irans-rouhani-says-economic-problems-beyond-sanctions-084601980--business.html

 

Seems more and more that guys like Netanyahu and Boulton were correct and that we let took our foot off their throats and conceded them the bomb just as their economy was close to collapse (and presumably the Iranian people would demand change and remove the unelected clerics).

[B-Man]

Has Obama's amateurish sense of theatre and timing caught him again?

 

 

 

 

 

Is there even an Iran Nuke Deal?

 

Yesterday we reported that Iranian officials were furious that the Obama administration’s “fact sheet” spun the nuclear deal in ways not agreed-upon. The Iranians are crowing that their right to enrich uranium was confirmed while the Obama administration is saying the opposite.

 

Now comes word that the “deal” is not actually final, that there are details to be worked out, and that there is a window before the agreement comes into effect.

 

 

 

 

US now indicates Iran interim deal wasn’t quite finalized:

Iran is currently enjoying a “window” of time before the six-month deal signed in Geneva early Sunday goes into effect, during which it is not bound to take any credible steps toward disabling its ability to produce a nuclear weapon, the State Department acknowledged Tuesday.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the six-month interim period, during which Iran would take steps to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, has not yet begun. Furthermore, there are still a number of details to be worked out, she said, without specifying what points had yet to be finalized.

 

 

Her comments created confusion as to whether the much-touted interim deal, supposedly reached by P5+1 powers and Iran in Geneva in the early hours of Sunday morning, had actually been completed as claimed. Iran on Tuesday

accused the US of publishing an inaccurate account

of what had been agreed. And its

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an address to the Iranian parliament Wednesday

that Iran would continue construction on the Arak heavy water plant, in an apparent breach of the ostensibly agreed terms.

 

This whole Iran nuke deal is turning into another Obama debacle.

 

Obama had his public statement, got whatever help in the polls that will create, and then leaves behind a mess.

 

Sound familiar?

 

.

[B-Man]

Report: Obama asks Netanyahu for 'breather'

 

President Obama requested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take a “breather” from his harsh criticism of the U.S. strategy regarding Iran during a call betwee the two leaders, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

 

The request came as the administration girds up for a push in the next six months to reach a final settlement on Iran's nuclear program. The president reportedly urged Netanyahu to tone down his rhetoric for the sake of diplomacy and urged him to dispatch officials to Washington who could help negotiate a resolution agreeable to both countries.

 

 

The president called Netanyahu last Sunday, promising to keep the Israeli leader up-to-date regarding the progress of negotiations for a final settlement. He also reaffirmed that the two countries share the same goal of a nuclear-free Iran.

 

Netanyahu has been vocally opposed to the concessions made by the U.S. and its allies in the initial agreement, which loosens sanctions on Iran without requiring Tehran to dismantle its existing nuclear architecture. Following the deal's announcement on Sunday, he referred to it as a “horrible mistake” and said Israel would not be bound by it.

 

At least in public, Netanyahu has not shied away from continued warnings about Iran.

 

On Thursday evening in Israel, the prime minister vowed that Israel was prepared to act, alone if necessary.

 

“The largest darkness that threatens the world today is a nuclear Iran,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. “We are bound to do all we can to prevent this darkness. If possible we will do this diplomatically, if not we will act as a light unto the nations.”

 

 

 

http://thehill.com/b...reather-on-iran

[DC Tom]

http://thehill.com/b...reather-on-iran

 

"Please stop bullying me." Nice.

 

Syria, Iran, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia...the list of countries that we so far know Obama has lost credibility with.

 

But, he still has some sort of credibility with Japan...if only for challenging China's air defense zone with an overflight. The irony of THAT being that challenging China's growing power was the kind of policy that Romney was accused of having a "Cold War mentality" for espousing.

[B-Man]

What the White House didn’t report on the Iran nuke deal

 

Since the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal and the administration’s release of a fact sheet on the matter, Iran has disputed the White House’s interpretation of the agreement. While Iran has insisted that the agreement recognizes its right to enrich uranium, Secretary of State John Kerry has said, “We do not recognize a right to enrich.”

 

The Washington Post published this piece Thursday by its editorial board that points out notable omissions in the fact sheet distributed by the Obama administration.

 

 

THE

FACT sheet

distributed by the Obama administration about the nuclear agreement with Iran is notable for its omissions.

 

What the White House didn’t report is that the

text of the accord

makes several major concessions to Tehran on the terms of a planned second-stage agreement. Though White House officials and Secretary of State John F. Kerry repeatedly said that Iran’s assertion of a “right to enrich” uranium would not be recognized in an interim deal,

the text says the “comprehensive solution” will “involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters.” In other words, the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely.

In contrast, a long-standing U.S. demand that an underground enrichment facility be closed is not mentioned.

 

 

 

Another take...............

 

 

For Obama, the devil is not in the details

 

The Washington Post editorial board notices that President Obama’s deal with Iran provides the mullahs with “concessions” that the final deal “needs to balance out.” That’s one way of putting it. The Post puts it better on its main Opinion page where it talks in terms of “where the deal falls short.”

 

{snip}

 

The Post, I think, is missing the point of Obama’s deal, just as the President’s critics miss the point of Obamacare. When it comes to public policy, details don’t matter — it’s direction that counts.

 

Obama didn’t write the legislation known as Obamacare. As a candidate for president he did not really support the approach embodied therein.

 

Nonetheless, Obamacare was fine with Obama because (1) it could pass and (2) it moved the country in the direction he prefers.

 

Had Obama given serious consideration to the details of this legislative monstrosity, he would have understood its manifold problems. But they would not have mattered to him. The leftward thrust of a major piece of legislation that Congress could pass was sufficient reason not just to support it, but to lend it his name.

 

This is probably what Obama means when he describes himself as not particularly ideological. Most ideologues obsess over details. Obama does not. Most ideologues aren’t cynical enough to find merit in arrangements merely because they trend in a congenial direction. Obama is.

 

The Iran deal is another example. It takes country in the direction Obama favors, and that’s enough to recommend it.

 

Obama wants an America that makes nice with its enemies. He wants to reverse the arrogance (as he sees it) of our prior dealings with nations like Iran. He wants to put America on the right side of history (as he sees it) by moving us closer to the forces he believes are ascending.

 

The Iran deal is a step in these directions. Its “concessions” (as the Post sees them) do not diminish that step. If anything, they enhance it. The sweeter the deal, the nicer we “make” and the less “arrogant” we seem.

 

 

 

http://www.powerline... (Power Line)#!

[IDBillzFan]

What the White House didn’t report on the Iran nuke deal

 

So let me get this straight: The nuke deal the WH made with Iran that doesn't exist includes important items that neither agree is in the deal that doesn't exist except that both agree that enrichment activity will go on until the deal that wasn't reached is ultimately reached in, give or take, six months.

 

The good news is that the more we see this stupidity unfold, the more obvious the kool-aid drinkers become, so it makes for easier target practice.

[DC Tom]

Wow. That's a hell of a lot of reading between the lines by the Post.

 

All that proves is that the Post's editorial board is functionally illiterate, which explains SO much...

[Azalin]

But, he still has some sort of credibility with Japan...if only for challenging China's air defense zone with an overflight. The irony of THAT being that challenging China's growing power was the kind of policy that Romney was accused of having a "Cold War mentality" for espousing.

it's only 'cold war mentality' if you own a horse.