You could tell everything you needed to know, about who had prevailed in the Iran nuclear talks, by the way Iran’s negotiator was received in Tehran after the deal to reach a deal was announced. Mohammad Javad Zarif received a hero’s welcome by thunderous crowds for his triumph over the Great Satan (the U.S.) and the Little Satan (Israel).
Technically there were other countries involved in the negotiations besides the U.S. and Iran (Great Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), and even though Israel had the most to lose, they weren’t represented at all. (Well, Barack Obama said he had their back, but that can’t be very comforting when you consider how many buses under which he’s thrown Israel, and especially her leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.)
And to France’s credit, for all the grief that nation gets for allegedly being “surrender monkeys”, or worse, France reportedly tried, up to the last minute, to block the deal, because it was such a lousy one. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration was so anxious to get a deal, any deal, that even France couldn’t stop it.
And any deal that’s going to be enforced by the feckless U.N., or the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), can’t give any serious person a whole lot of confidence. After all, since Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, they have a veto over any enforcement measures if when Iran violates its promises under the deal for a deal. And this puts a bad actor like Vladimir Putin in the catbird’s seat to keep the West from pressuring him to get his claws out of Ukraine, or the next victim on his menu (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland…?)
I’m not going to spend a great deal of valuable blog time reviewing the details of the deal for a deal because – it really doesn’t matter. Iran’s not going to comply with the terms of it. Everybody knows that. They can be trusted about as much as we can trust North Korea.
The Obama Administration wanted a deal. That’s all that mattered. Now they can posture that they’ve attained peace in our time. And John Kerry looks more and more like Neville Chamberlain.
The one potential roadblock for this gigantic sellout is the United States Congress. The Constitution states that “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.” I expect Obama to attempt to bypass the duly elected representatives of the American people, by taking executive action, just as he has (illegally) on immigration, welfare work requirements, changing Obamacare, etc. Republicans must fight this, as unitedly and as strenuously, as possible. As for Democrats, Senator Chuck Schumer, who will probably be replacing Harry Reid as Democratic Leader in the Senate, is the guy to watch. He has historically been a friend and ally of Israel, but Obama will put a lot of pressure on him. And look at what just happened to another Democrat Senator who has occasionally stepped out of line with the Obama Administration, most notably on Cuba and Iran. Senator Robert Menendez was just indicted on 14 counts by Eric Holder’s Justice Department. Just a coincidence?
Although Obama doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ____ what Israel thinks about this deal for a deal, I believe we have a moral obligation to our strongest traditional ally in the region to consider what this vulnerable nation thinks. Her recently re-elected leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu, whom Barack Obama and his cohorts did everything within their power to defeat, lamented: “This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel.” I greatly fear that he is exactly right.
And finally, in attempting to sell this lousy deal to the American people, the Obama Administration has pushed the argument that there are only two choices: war, or this deal. That’s just not true. As Bibi Netanyahu stated before a joint session of Congress, there is a third choice – a better deal. If the Iranians aren’t willing to actually give up their nuclear program, and at this point they’re not, impose stricter sanctions until they are willing. And the sad thing is, we were getting close to that point, when the Obama Administration foolishly relieved Iran of tough sanctions, and entered into a desperate round of negotiations, where we (the Obama Administration), wanted a deal far more than they (Iran) did.
And we now see the results.
