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Iran is calling the shots — 26 Comments

1. Calling this a negotiation is a bit of a stretch. The Iranians are clearly just wasting time, running out the clock, knowing that they will get what they want, and if they don’t, they won’t abide by the “agreement” anyway. As Glenn Reynolds might say: “the country is in the best of hands>”

2. “Actually, although many of you may think this odd, the two men remind me of each other…”

   I don’t think your opinion odd and I share your dislike for both.

3. I wonder if the House and Senate will shove this deal back down Obama’s throat in a veto proof bipartisan manner.

4. As each move and maneuver comes into the news, it tends to live a life of its own, undefiled by previous moves and maneuvers. Yet, as every historian knows, history is not made that way, and it is necessary to put the pieces together to understand any one of them. The fate of the Johnson-Ho Chi Minh correspondence in February or of Secretary-General U Thant’s new three point peace plan in March cannot be understood by itself, divorced from the events which led up to it or the consequences that flowed from it. Both these episodes and others in the recent past need to be seen in a somewhat larger historical perspective if they are to be rescued from providing more pretexts for waging an ever more brutalizing and destructive war.

   Theodore H. Draper May 4, 1967

   History shows that wars are divided into two kinds, just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. We Communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but we do not oppose progressive, just wars. Not only do we Communists not oppose just wars; we actively participate in them. Mao

   “It would be the greatest mistake, certainly, to think that concessions mean peace. Nothing of the kind. Concessions are nothing but a new form of war.”
   –Vladimir Lenin

   There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.
   — Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

   Theories that endeavor to connect Judaism and capitalism often, though not invariably, spring from distaste for one or both of the paired terms. This was notoriously the case in Karl Marx’s famous essay On the Jewish Question, written in 1844. In this early work, Marx said that capitalism was Jewish, in that both were egoistic. In his important book, Capitalism and the Jews, Jerry Muller says: “Were Jews egoistic, as [Bruno] Bauer had charged? Certainly, Marx answered. But in bourgeois society, everyone was egoistic…. Marx embraces all of the traditional negative characterizations of the Jew repeated by Bauer, and for good measure adds a few of his own. But he does so in order to stigmatize market activity as such. For Marx’s strategy is to endorse every negative characterization of market activity that Christians associated with Jews, but to insist that those qualities have now come to characterize society as a whole, very much including Christians.”2

   Marx’s argument is a simple one. Capitalism is based on the pursuit of profit. Each person is supposed to act to secure his self-interest. This makes universal the trader-ethics characteristic since the Middle Ages of Jewish peddlers and moneylenders. Marx of course did not advance this view as a purely theoretical account. He deplored this sort of society; in it, human beings lived alienated both from one another and their own essence.

   -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

   It is precisely the attitude toward others described here that, according to Marx, constitutes the essence of Judaism. “What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.” (Emphasis in original)

   if your a fan of soviet communism and so on… then your going to have read these, and know a la the wacko austrian of the 1930s that the public will not side with you on it… but you do know, that your god, your prophet, Marx, has spoken that to end capitalism one must end the existence of the jews.

   now… do they do it themselves?

   or do they enable a proxy, a group that will not only accomplish the outcome, but will also suffer the punishment…

   Zaur Dadayev is going to be the payee for the death of Nemtsov
   Putin and others will point to him and his [forced] confession and say, we had nothing to do with it, Zaur did it…

   when the world will talk of the end of the jews, they will say, the islamics of iran did it, and point and so on, and all will forget that russia gave them the knowlege, and a US president child of devout soviet marxists, helped to enable it… just as we forget so much less important stuff.

   the revolution …. cannot succeed unless, sweeping, like a worldwide conflagration .. it encompasses the whole of Europe for a start and then the world – Bakunin referencing Engels quote telling the world the holocaust was coming… (the term holocaust was invented after this, and served to hide the conflagration comments of the marxists)

5. An Iranian official on Tuesday rebuked the chief of the U.N. atomic agency for demanding snap inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites, saying the request hindered efforts to reach an agreement with world powers, state TV reported.

   What strikes me is that this excuse can be used for just about anything. Don’t ask Iran to agree to snap inspections, because this interferes with the U.S.-Iran negotiations. Don’t protest Iran’s upcoming parade of missile-ready nuclear weapons through downtown Teheran, because such protestations interfere with the U.S.-Iran negotiations. Don’t cause any trouble over Iran’s test-firing of a missile that impacted a Tel Aviv beach, because you don’t want to interfere with the U.S.-Iran negotiations. And so on.

   This, of course, goes along with Neo’s thesis. Iran believes that virtually nothing they do, or demand, at this point will cause Kerry to walk away from the table. And that does indeed put them in the driver’s seat. As anyone who has negotiated at a car dealership knows, your power in the negotiation depends on two things — your information, and your willingness to walk away.

   The U.S. has all the cards it needs. We could easily say: “These are our terms. If you don’t like them, we go home, and sanctions stay in place — and later on, we may bomb the hell out of you, or we may not, at our convenience.” But we won’t say anything like that, will we?

6. In fact, I’d love to see this question put to Sec. Kerry. “Mr. Secretary, under what conditions would you walk away from the negotiations?”

   Anything Kerry says then, of course, would be used by the Iranians to tweak the American nose…

7. This post of yours was a Joy To Read, N-Neo!! With you, I’ve loathed John Boy Kerry far longer than I have Mr. VTC*, but they are a tie for Loathe Level. Kerry for 45-years. And I was firmly on the Anti-Vietnam War/Activist/Liberal side of things then too. But, he and Janey Fonda made my head pop. Late to the Dance. Opportunistic, Mendacious and Vapid. (Loved her in Klute and Comes a Horseman, however.)

   And, you nailed Kerry when you dubbed him the Perfect Obama Lackey. The spine of a day old earth worm. A pompous pimp.

   I was having one of those ‘lousy days’ and you’ve improved my mood immeasurably, Land Lady!! Thank You.

   (*VAST Testicular Concavity*)

8. john purple heart kerry is indeed a perfect obama lackey. They are like dogs sniffing é·sses, except dogs have far more dignity.

9. Kerry and Obama are indeed reminiscent of each other, two peas from the same pod, exactly alike “in their opportunism, narcissism, pomposity, belief in their own brilliance, duplicity, and willingness to betray their country.”

   “Iran isn’t providing needed access or information, nuclear watchdog says”

   “Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, said in an interview that Iran has replied to just one of a dozen queries about “possible military dimensions” of past nuclear activities.

   Amano said that Iran has provided only “very limited” information about two other issues, while the rest have not been addressed at all.”

   Do the Iranian Mullah’s perceive Obama as weak? Perhaps or do they realize that he is actively and intentionally aiding and abetting them?

   Surround a lion with enough jackals, then hamstring him and the king of beasts can be brought down.

   “The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States. For my agenda to advance, I need to have America come down in a controlled descent, not a complete crash.” – George Soros, foremost financier of the Left

   “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” – G. K. Chesterton

   “The easiest way to ‘solve’ a problem is to deny it exists.” Isaac Asimov

   “Perhaps you’ve noticed how denial is so often the preface to the justification.” Christopher Hitchens (paraphrased)

10. More evidence of Iran ‘sitting pretty’;

    Richard Fernandez’s latest post;
    “The Battle For Saudi Arabia Begins”

    “The Telegraph says the Saudis are “moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, US officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.

    The fall of Aden would put the “Bab al-Mandeb strait, a Red Sea shipping lane vital to oil shipments” within anti-ship missile and mining operational range of Iran. In 2013 a security expert from Brookings warned about the scenario that is now unfolding.

    “If the south of Yemen were to break away and become an ally of the Iranians, it would be a major strategic gain for Tehran,” said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow and director of the Brookings’ Intelligence Project, part of the Brookings’ Institute.

    “If the Iranians are able to control Bab al Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz, they’d be able to have a chokehold on the global economy,” a Western diplomat in San’a said.

    Now, as the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia moves directly to the borders of the Kingdom itself, Obama is like a deer in the headlights, incapable of any meaningful action. He’s been reduced to hoping that Tehran throws him a bone. The man who depicted himself as a transcendent figure on history’s stage, who described his foreign policy vision at the Temple of Hercules has been out-thought, out-generaled and completely outclassed by men with far fewer resources, but a great deal more ability than himself.”

    While the inimitable Thomas Sowell points to
    “A Simple Question”

    “It is amazing how a simple question can cause a complex lie to collapse like a house of cards. The simple question was asked by Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel, and it was addressed to two Democrats. He asked, what has Hillary Clinton ever accomplished?

    Hillary Clinton became an iconic figure by feeding the media and the left the kind of rhetoric they love. Barack Obama did the same and became president. Neither had any concrete accomplishments besides rhetoric beforehand, and both have had the opposite of accomplishments after taking office.

    They have something else in common. They attract the votes of those people who vote for demographic symbolism – “the first black president” to be followed by “the first woman president” – and neither to be criticized, lest you be denounced for racism or sexism.

    It is staggering that there are sane adults who can vote for someone to be President of the United States as if they are in school, just voting for “most popular boy” or “most popular girl” – or, worse yet, voting for someone who will give them free stuff.

    Whoever holds that office makes decisions involving the life and death of Americans and – especially if Iran gets a nuclear arsenal – the life and death of this nation. It took just two nuclear bombs – neither of them as powerful as those available today – to get a very tough nation like Japan to surrender.

    Anyone familiar with World War II battles in the Pacific knows that it was not unusual for 90 percent of the Japanese troops defending Iwo Jima or other islands to fight to the death, even after it was clear that American troops had them beaten.

    When people like that surrender after two nuclear bombs, do not imagine that today’s soft Americans – led by the likes of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton – will fight on after New York and Chicago have been reduced to radioactive ashes.

    Meanwhile, ISIS and other terrorists are giving us a free demonstration of what surrender would mean. But perhaps we can kick the can down the road, and leave that as a legacy to our children and grandchildren, along with the national debt.”

11. “On reading this, I marveled anew at the fairly obvious fact that Iran considers itself to be in the driver’s seat on these negotiations.”

    No need to marvel; President Hopenchange is simply leading from behind, don’tcha know?

    “All of this . . . has indicated to countries such as Iran how fundamentally unserious the West is right now . . . .”

    “Fundamentally unserious” indeed. Well, what *is* the West serious about? Let’s see . . . okay, here’s one: compelling others to underwrite the contraception needs of wymyn, even in fundamental violation of conscience, really *really* serious, majorly serious stuff like that.

    Sigh. We’re all toast.

12. Back in 2008 when running Obama made a big deal out of the fact that, unlike McCain, and Bush, and every other recent president, he’d talk to the Iranians, and open a dialogue with them. I say this is him keeping that promise, and come hell or high water he will. For some reason this means a lot to him.

13. Bab al Mandab — the Red Sea Yemeni-Somalia choke point — is critical vis a vis YANBU exports to ASIA.

    Think Japan, Korea, Red China — even India and Singapore.

    KSA has built up the Yanbu (Red Sea deep water oil terminal) to supplant — if not replace — Ras Tanura.

    Ras Tanura — more specifically the oil jetty at the north tip of Tarut Bay — was built out by 1968 to be the single largest oil node on the planet.

    It was at that time that the shallowness of the Persian Gulf was finally assessed as being a design limitation. So, the kingdom vectored all future oil export infrastructure to the Red Sea — YANBU in particular.

    It’s somewhat ironic, as Yanbu had been the traditional vacation and resort destination for the Saudis.

    The ONLY thing that the Yemeni chaos is driving at is a stranglehold on Yanbu exports to Asia. By its design, that particular terminus is designed for ultra large crude carriers, ULCCs. These were world scale ships originally exclusive to Japanese shipyards — and Japanese imports.

    The only known terminal suitable for ULCCs in the US is the LOOP. (Louisiana offshore oil platform)

    Yanbu’s traffic is towards Asia — almost exclusively.

    In purely economic terms, KSA and Iran are at total war. KSA is gutting the OPEC price standard. Iran is engaged in its own ‘Anaconda plan.’ (cf Scott, Lincoln)

    So the blood and ruin aspect of the international Muslim civil war is hard upon us.

    So you can see why Ayatollah Soetoro is doing his best to throttle Canadian and American oil production.

    It’s what you’d expect out of a Muslim president and a Muslim CIA director.

    And, it can be no surprise that the maladministration is spewing somnolent propaganda: “Nothing to see here, move along, move along.”

14. I’ll tell you what the Left is dead serious about: The Global Warming SCAM.

    It is essential to prevent North American energy independence and stop Keystone XL because we are going to burn up and drown at some future unspecified date.

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic

16. Iran is part of the NPT as is the US. How can what they are doing not be in violation of the treaty? And as treaties have the power of law after senate approval, is not what the administration doing in violation of that law?

17. I commented at Ace’s recently: What if Kerry had been elected President in 2004 and named Obama as Secretary of State?

    No point to that remark, really. But it could have happened.

18. Neo: “One of the main motivations for the Iraq War was that Saddam Hussein had refused to cooperate with inspections of WMD programs. That’s been de-emphasized by those who were against the war, and has been almost forgotten. All of this–as well as the fact that under Obama we pulled completely out of Iraq and signaled our inability to follow through–has indicated to countries such as Iran how fundamentally unserious the West is right now about either enforcing such inspections or stopping enemies who wish to get such weapons.”

    President Clinton warning on Iraq to Pentagon personnel, February 17, 1998:

    If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow by the knowledge that they can act with impunity, even in the face of a clear message from the United Nations Security Council and clear evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program.

19. All you need to know about everything that matters

20. Please excuse some of the language that follows. It is common terminology in the military.

    I was in the Army 61-63 and spent a year on a joint operation with the Navy. At that time the military had a hard time recruiting (there was a draft) and they took whom they could get. This led to an inordinate number of personnel who were known as F*ck-ups. Usually they were slotted to positions where they could do the least harm – training commands or REMF (Rear Echelon Mother F*ckers). If there weren’t any slots like that in the unit TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) they got transferred out and became someone else’s problem.

    Kerry got assigned to the Swift Boats – a very small unit doing very dangerous stuff. From the start they knew they had a problem and had to find a way to get him out of there. “Get this a**hole out of here before he gets people killed”. At that time there was a policy that three Purple Hearts was a ticket home. So, they gave him three of the suckers in four months for things that the Medical Officer would call malingering. He was politically connected (Forbes family) so they threw in a couple of other decorations to avoid trouble.

    He still thinks he’s a hero.

21. I just read GUESTS OF THE AYATOLLAH by Mark Bowden and highly recommend it. If you think going over the history of Iran taking US diplomats hostage for over a year without Jimmy Carter doing anything effective in response will merely bum you out or bore you, you’re wrong. And I have one clearcut, no doubt about it American hero to admire, named Petrinko.

    But back then, in 1979 and ’80, Khomeini always seemed to be one step ahead of Jimmy Carter, a mediocrity who was in way over his head.

    Obama and Kerry will go down in history as foolish at best, and when one looks at the long list of bizarre or stupid moves by Obama the appointment of John Kerry and this whole sorry business with Iran is just… ah, we all know. Obama is down in a hole beneath James Buchanan throwing dirt on himself as the worst president of all time.

    And both he and Kerry will undoubtedly live luxurious, pampered lives surrounded by sycophants until they’re thankfully gone from this Earth.

22. Never a good idea to rely on “deus ex machina” (AKA miraculous occurrences).

    (To be sure, Ben Gurion was quoted as saying that in Israel, someone who does not believe in miracles is not a realist; on the other hand, B-G spent inordinate amounts of time standing on his head…)

    But might one wonder if the Arab Spring (TM)—AKA Arab (intra/inter) civil war—now having spread to Iran, is such such a deus ex machina?

    The only problem, of course, is who might exploit the mayhem to score points for himself (herself?) while the chaos spews forth.

    Obama, having just decided (no doubt for the sake of world peace and security, justice and freedom) to ignore NATO’s military leader on a visit to Washington, has, by doing so, clearly informed NATO what he thinks of that organization (no matter how much ignoring a Norwegian socialist may be perfectly understandable, at least to “regular” folks).

    And might one wonder what Putin thinks of this latest example of Obama’s determination to show “greater flexibility” in world affairs?

    Or what Europe thinks. Or China or Taiwan or Japan.

    (Would it be time to once again mock the “Domino Theory”?)

    Or maybe, there’s no need to wonder…but to pray and hope for the best? (That is, strategically pray and hope for the best; or maybe even kinetically pray and hope for the best.)

    On the other hand, Obama might not have had enough time to deal with the NATO leader’s visit because he’s been busy of late trying to marshall his forces to get Stephen Harper (that Bibi-supporting, Keystone pushing, Western-loving varmint) out of Ottawa in the upcoming Canadian elections. No doubt learning all the lessons that are to be learnt from the anti-Bibi project.

    (And is Tony Abbott next?)

    Never mind. Clearly, Obama knows his priorities.

23. “Iran” should be “Yemen”. Sorry about that.

24. Barry is afraid that Oslo wants their gong back.

    Everything else he has is a rental, too.

25. this was my contribution to another site i post on that covers stuff that is not covered here… (usually)
    …

    Too Few Know What’s in Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal – or in the Constitution

    It looks like the de facto nullification of the Constitution is complete – unless even the members of Congress willing to put up resistance to Obama’s nuke deal with our worst enemy don’t know what’s in the Constitution:

    American lawmakers have threatened new sanctions on Iran as well as the establishment of a process which would allow them to vote down any final accord.

    quote from:
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNITED_STATES_IRAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-25-11-17-55

    From Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the document that validates our government:

    [The President] shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur…

    So you can see them preparing the public with a preload that will get them to think that the GOP is doing something that it shouldnt and cant do, and is totally new and so can be hated, rather than know that its already law, obama is violating it and the press is complicit in helping as they are full of malice and lies…

    on another note..

    Obama Administration Reveals Israel’s Nuclear Secrets

    In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel’s nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

    But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel’s nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth.

    The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu’s March 3 address in Congress, in which he warned against the dangers of Iran’s nuclear program and how the deal being formed on that program leaves the Islamic regime with nuclear breakout capabilities.

    Another highly suspicious aspect of the document is that while the Pentagon saw fit to declassify sections on Israel’s sensitive nuclear program, it kept sections on Italy, France, West Germany and other NATO countries classified, with those sections blocked out in the document.

    this was easy to predict… i did so way back in late 2007… because i know that they are following a nearly 200 year old playbook that even the russians no longer follow and have refined it (not evolved… only living things evolve and only in conception or creating a new being)

    even the historians knew, from the history of germany, that most jews will ignore levels of antisemitism… that is until it grows to a certain point, then they become aware… but its the first ignoring that creates the climate that they cant do a thing about later and now are fleeing france and uk and other places… they ignore the early antisemitism of the germans, they are ignoring the antisemetism of obama and the socialists… OFTEN i have had discussions and the smart jewish people think socialism can work, so they dont want to allow the truth to be conceptualized, holding a personal version of marxism that just doesnt exist. the same way that nancy pelosi holds a definition of what it is to be a catholic that just doesnt exist. but its these personal versions that filter out the negatives and so allow belonging that cause a whole lot of horrid problems.

26. The only interest I have in anything Clown Prince Obama is doing anymore is out of a sort of sardonic amusement. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I can’t remember a worse president in my lifetime. When I start thinking of all the damage he’s done, and how many threats are out there, it’s chilling.

    Worst. President. Ever.

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