Leftist media outlet after leftist media outlet are trotting out the word “historic”. Chamberlain’s deal with Nazi Germany was historic, too. Is this deal as bad? Once the full details are exposed, we’ll know
(NY Times) Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States have agreed to a historic accord to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions against Iran, a senior Western diplomat involved in the negotiations said on Tuesday.
The agreement and its annexes run more than 80 pages, Iranian officials said, outlining in painstaking detail how much nuclear fuel Iran can keep in the country for the next 15 years; what kind of research and development it can perform on centrifuges and other nuclear equipment; and the redesign of both a nuclear reactor and a deep-underground enrichment site that Israeli and American officials feared could be invulnerable to bombing.
But to strike the deal, Mr. Kerry and the other negotiators had to accept an understanding that essentially left in place most of Iran’s infrastructure at the country’s main nuclear sites, though much of it would be disassembled and put in storage. Iran is likely to cite that fact as evidence that it never gave in to the West’s demands that it dismantle its critical facilities.
They are being allowed to keep over 6000 centrifuges in operation, meaning their nuclear weapon aspirations are just delayed. Provided they don’t cheat. And Iran would never cheat, right? The restrictions phase out after 10 years, and after 15 they are free to produce as much weapons grade material as the want! So, the deal has just kicked the can down the road.
(Politico) Obama main goal was to impose limits on Iran’s fast-advancing nuclear program to ensure that Tehran can’t acquire a nuclear bomb faster than the U.S. and its allies can act to stop it. The deal seeks to do that by reducing Iran’s capacity to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium, slowing its research and development into nuclear technology, and imposing inspections and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities to prevent cheating.
No, the idea was to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, not slow it. So, in that regard, complete fail.
Inspections of the nuclear sites, especially the military ones, is obviously a big deal. What I’m seeing in the various articles is unclear, so, there’s little point in discussion till the details are released. One point most are reporting is that Iran will be given a heads up prior to any inspections.
As Iran takes steps to scale back its nuclear program, the U.S., U.N. and EU will gradually begin to lift sanctions on Iran’s economy. That reportedly includes the phase-out of a U.N. arms embargo that held up the talks in the final hours.
Some are reporting that Iran will be allowed to begin exporting massive amounts of oil. Again, details are slim. What we do know is that Iran will be flush with cash, which concerns many nations, since Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism. Removing the arms embargo? Iran has already broken it multiple times. Giving them the ability to export weapons to the terrorist organizations it supports is a really bad idea.
Anyhow, Obama is supposed to give a speech about this sometime this morning. Supposedly in a few minutes. Once the full deal is released, we’ll have a better idea as how bad this deal is. Unless you’re Iran. Then it’s really good, at least for the hard-liners.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Global warming.
Not a problem anymore once Iran decides to nuke all the Muslims in the middle east they hate/loathe and despise.
Nukalar winter….NO….but enough fallout in the air to cool the planet by several degrees.
Thanks Obama you did solve global warming.
Being that the USA is run and controlled by republican and democrat neocon Warhawks it’s rare that we just don’t invade under any imaginary pretense sold on the tv.
However, the issue with Iran is that it is protected by Russia and China, which both happen to be armed with nukes. Seems nukes help keep the peace actually.
What would a nuclear armed Iran look like. Well we know that Iran would point them at all their neighbors and especially Israel. Israel has nukes and would point them back at Iran. What does that do?? Let’s look at other nations that usually invade and fight each other but now don’t because of nukes.
Pakistan and India are both armed to the teeth and point at each other and no invasions and wars anymore since…. France and Great Britain are armed to the teeth and Europe has become unified after thousands of years of never ending war and being the main initiators of world wars. Nukes have even prevented the USA and Russia from beating each other up directly.
What would happen to the interventionist market manipulating and empirical expansion and power of the neocons if the world was armed for self defense??
I can tell you that we would stop invading countries. We would stop manipulating their markets to the advantage of a few corporate interests. We would be forced to stop bullying others around the world however we pleased. We would actually be forced to be at peace with our neighbors and only trade and be friends with them.
Yes an all out destruction of the world could happen, but that hasn’t change since the first nuke we dropped on Hiroshima. Nukes make nations friendly to each other just like guns make people friendly with their neighbors.
I’m not a fan of Obama and Obama has kicked the can down the street, but only because of Russia and China. Not because of obama’s incompetence. Obama is a part of the neocons who support war. Bush didn’t solve Iran either. The neocons imperial power is destroyed by nukes.
They kicked the can because they don’t want to admit that they are powerless when nations can defend themselves from invasion. Had Iraq been armed we would have not had to worry about wasting
Money and troops there and it would still be stable today.
If you look at the the facts, the world is better off armed to the teeth so we can all finally be at peace and the USA can stop engaging in endless war after war after war in the name of nation building and spreading Democracy.
The ex Chiefs if intelligence ( both military and civilian) in Israel have said that any deal is better than no deal
Both China and Russia have already broken the sanctions
Iran is already exporting all the oil it can
Neocon war Hawks are always ready to find a new bugi man
Maybe there should be some regrets that Reagan allowed the Pskus yo developed the Muslim bomb and then sell that technology to Iran
But if course thst DID allow us to force the Russians out of Afghanustan and allow us to inherit that mess
Negotiators from both the Bush and Reagan administrations concluded this AM that it’s a deal that slows Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, period. They both asked: What’s the alternative path? The Reagan START arms negotiator likened it to Trust but Verify, the mantra of negotiations with our mortal enemy, the Soviet Union. At that time our far-right patriots criticized President Reagan for capitulating to the Soviets. Same as it ever was…
The international sanctions are only as good as the international community.
Does the US or Israel allow “unfettered” international inspections of all nuclear and military facilities?
And Michael makes excellent points. Read his comment please.
I read Michael’s comments and Im not sure where hes coming from. Calling Obama a neocon is labeling someone such as fascist or nazi without factual evidence to support that contention.
Obama is far from a military establishment guy. If he were he would be willing to put boots on the ground and try out some of them new fangled weapons.
Calling Obama a neocon is an insult to us Neocons of which I consider myself one.
NEOCON……..The term “neoconservative” refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism. Neoconservatives frequently advocate the promotion of democracy and promotion of American national interest in international affairs, including by means of military force, and are known for espousing disdain for communism and for political radicalism.
Many early neoconservative thinkers were Jewish and published articles in Commentary, published by the American Jewish Committee.
Calling Obama a neocon is embarrassing. He is about as far from being a true neocon as imaginable.
However that being said I was opposed to the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. What is happening now is exactly what was destined to happen.
The only true hope is that Iran with the bomb will suddenly be forced to become a legitimate world actor. Because if a bomb goes off in Tel Aviv….a 100 will go off in Iran…….
I wonder If Iran is that set on ending the Israel Blood lines.