The Iran deal and three new heads of state: Biden, Raisi, and Bennett
There was never any question that part of the Biden administration’s agenda was going to be the restoration of the Iran-facilitating Iran deal the Obama administration pushed into being despite its unpopularity. And so these moves by the new administration should come as no surprise to anyone:
As Biden White House negotiators on Sunday resumed the European Union-sponsored talks in Austria’s capital Vienna, the top Iranian negotiator, country’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, is confident that a deal can be inked soon.
Zarif “says there is a ‘good possibility’ for an agreement in Vienna talks before end of current administration’s tenure” before August, the Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera reported.
Earlier this month, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman disclosed that a “broad agreement” had been reached with the Biden administration on lifting of sanctions on Tehran, a pre-condition set by the Mullahs for reentering the 2015 nuclear deal.
The recent election of Raisi as Iran’s president doesn’t matter to Biden/Harris and/or the group in charge of the executive branch of the US right now. In fact, if they’re anything like the NY Times, they welcome it because his election supposedly favors resumption of the deal.
The Deal is the priority. It always was for the Biden administration. Whether it’s Obama calling the shots or some of his original foreign policy advisors, or even if Biden himself is somewhere in the mix, the Iran deal is clearly a top priority for this bunch.
Who’s Raisi? It’s not as though even the left is all that fond of him; certainly not groups such as Amnesty, anyway:
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Ebrahim Raisi’s election as Iran’s new president was a blow for human rights and called for him to be investigated over his role in what Washington and rights groups have called the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
Iran has never acknowledged the mass executions and Raisi has never publicly addressed allegations about his role. Some clerics have said the trials were fair, praising the “eliminating” of armed opposition in the early years of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran,” London-based Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement.
It occurs to me as I read that passage that perhaps the Biden administration is admiring and even envious of Raisi. After all, after January 6th they’ve been intent on creating quite a few political prisoners themselves, although executions don’t seem to be on the agenda at this point (the exception might be Ashli Babbitt).
Israel has also had a change of executives, with Netanyahu out and Bennett and his diverse coalition in. But so far Bennett has taken a hard line on Raisi and the Deal, rhetorically similar to that of his predecessor Netanyahu:
Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday warned world powers against negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran after the election of a new president, Ebrahim Raisi, saying they should “wake up” before pursuing a deal.
During his first televised cabinet meeting, Bennett said Raisi would bring about a “regime of brutal hangmen,” Reuters reported. Raisi is under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, and Bennett claimed Raisi’s electoral victory was the result of influence from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, instead of a popular vote…
“Raisi’s election is, I would say, the last chance for world powers to wake up before returning to the nuclear agreement and understand who they are doing business with,” Bennett said.
“A regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction,” he added. “Israel’s position will not change on this.”
Especially since Israel is on Raisi’s and Iran’s hit list.
What would it take for the present US administration and “world powers” to “wake up” to the dangers? I can’t imagine. I don’t think there’s anything that would dissuade those currently shaping our foreign policy, anymore than the Obama administration was dissuaded from the Iran deal.
[NOTE: More here.]
‘…to “wake up” to the dangers…’
Except that they are fomenting those dangers.
Their policies have been planned—since 2009—to create and exacerbate those dangers.
After all, it’s really past time to put Israel in its place. Way past time—right, Bob?
Yep, the Jewish State’s “due date” has all but expired. After all, it’s been 73 years already and THEY HAVE NOT been able to persuade those who wish to destroy them change their minds. So sayanara, shalom, adieu…. Or in plain old American, GET LOST!
And all this would have happened already except that that orangutan ba***rd got in the way. (Something that will likely go a long way to redefining “Jewish Humor”, no doubt).
Anyway, sigh, to make a long story short, “it” goes like this:
1. “We’ve been negotiating long and hard with our friends in Iran.
“We’ve been raising our concerns with them on a daily basis.
“We have our interests and we will not relinquish them.
“And it goes without saying that we have no intention of abandoning our allies or our principles.”
2. However, our interlocutors too have been raising THEIR concerns and they have THEIR principles.
“Moreover, negotiations have been very tough, painstaking and arduous. After all, the US has let them down once already and they are anxious about this possibility happening again.
“Clearly, we are well aware that we are negotiating about the future of world peace. The world of our children. The world of our grandchildren. And their grandchildren.
“Thus we will continue with these difficult negotiations for as long as it takes. We owe it to ourselves, to our citizens and to the world.”
3.
“Negotiations have been hardheaded but not at all easy.
“We fear the consequences of NOT reaching a deal.
“We will continue negotiating, as we have pledged in the past.
“And rest be assured that we will leave no stone (or cliche) unturned.”
4.
“WORLD PEACE is the single most critical goal of these negotiations.
“It is our dearest hope and most cherished desire.
“Our friends in Teheran do not seem to share every aspect of our outlook nor have they shown that they are disposed to meet our specific demands even halfway.
“Therefore, in the interests of WORLD PEACE, we believe that the only moral, ethical and principled decision we can make at this juncture is that we will accede—from a position of strength—to their demands.
“We tried our darnedest and we take this sober and difficult step forward because we are firmly convinced that this is how a responsible country ought to behave.
“We look forward to a new dawn of global peace.”
5.
“Yadda, yadda, yadda…”
Oh, by the way….
…N.B.: From the get-go, “Biden” was going to give the mullahs whatever they wanted. But sometimes—and in the interests of high theater—“a responsible country” ‘s gotta do what “a responsible country” ‘s gotta do.
Raisi must be really really bad to get AI to question an enemy of Israel.
“Especially since Israel is on Raisi’s and Iran’s [and, um, who else’s?] hit list.”
Israel needs to create a credible deterrence to the deal.
To do so requires placing the other players at equal risk.
Through back channels, quietly convey that Israel’s ‘unofficial’ policy is that the day Israel ceases to exist is the day when Tehran, Mecca, Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris and Washington D.C. cease to exist. Currently, every one of those capitals are controlled by Israel’s enemies.
To gain leverage over an enemy, attach to their actions, what for them is intolerable consequence.
Geoffrey:
Moscow and Beijing (Peiking) approve of your list, works for them.
Suggest worrying less about the Jews Over There and being more concerned about the Jews Where You Are. Inconceivable as it may be to those set in their ways, mayhap even some non-Jews will be on the menu this time. Now there’s a radical thought.
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2021/06/bidens-terror-strategy-defines.html
“As the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, Joe Biden has made it clear that he doesn’t intend to fight Al Qaeda. Instead he’s going to fight other Americans.”
@GB:
The strategic planning boys in all countries concerned — including you can bet AIPAC’s well-funded whipped curs — know that Israel will take them down Glow In the Dark Samson-wise if existential push comes to shove. That’s what Israel’s boomers are for. One can only wish for such clear-headed and determined thinking from one’s own perfumed princes. It’s woolly headed wishful kick the can down the road dreaming (e.g. US not stomping Iranian or North Korean, or for that matter Israeli Nukes in the 60s) that’s more likely to get everyone killed.
Totally unrelated matter: Instead of celebrating the ridiculous Juneteenth, said date actually also happens to be Rosenberg Lights Out (err, well) Day. Given the Swiss Cheese state of US Gov/Mil and the way that various state actors are crawling through it buying it up wholesale or stealing anything not bolted down, perhaps it’s time to bring back some of the Old Ways.
In the local paper today they had a picture of the two Iranian negotiators. They were masked up but you could see their eyes. They sparkled. They knew that they had won everything.
The world is in deep Shite and its getting deeper. Crazies are running the Insane Asylum. Not just on the Iranian deal, but everything. Men competing in the Olympics as women. Singers calling for the removal/destruction of the American Flag. Professors getting fired for not using the right pronoun.
The Four Horsemen are a’riding.
om,
They’re on the list too. But it would be foolhardy in the extreme to let them know for sure. As, it is a certainty that they would act preemptively.
Whereas the others have a strong personal, national and cultural identification with their capitals. Neither, Putin and his oligarchy nor the CCP have an especially strong cultural attachment to their capitals.
Rest assured that if I were Israeli and facing death, cleansing the world of two of its greatest cancers would be a certain goal.
Again, deterrence rests upon impressing upon an enemy, the contemplation of certain and intolerable consequence.
Zaphod,
Given those nation’s consistent votes in the U.N. I am doubtful that Israel’s Samson policy extends beyond the Middle East.
As the nations mentioned enable Islamic malevolence toward Israel, credibly threatening them too is required to deter their enabling.
“Rogue states never turn out to be quite the pariahs they are deemed. They are only able to cause, or at least threaten to cause, mayhem because they enjoy the covert support – usually by means of technology transfers – of one or more major powers within the charmed circle of global ‘good guys’.” — Margaret Thatcher
Through back channels, quietly convey that Israel’s ‘unofficial’ policy is that the day Israel ceases to exist is the day when Tehran, Mecca, Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris and Washington D.C. cease to exist. Currently, every one of those capitals are controlled by Israel’s enemies.
Geoffrey Britain:
A friend, who reads history a lot more than I do, claimed that during the Cold War France had targeted American cities as well as Soviet. Their strategic concern was that the Soviets would invade Europe, war would escalate to nuclear weapons, Europe would be destroyed, and the US would make a separate peace with the Soviets. Targeting Washington would make sure the US couldn’t sit out a Soviet invasion of Europe.
France had withdrawn from NATO and gone its own way to pursue its own interests. So it wasn’t an impossible idea. I was never able to run my friend’s claim down myself.
However, it is another version of MAD — Mutual Assured Destruction. Maybe it was just a backchannel idea that France put out to keep the US wondering.
Geoffrey:
“Whereas the others have a strong personal, national and cultural identification with their capitals. Neither, Putin and his oligarchy nor the CCP have an especially strong cultural attachment to their capitals.”
You base this on what? Putin isn’t Russian and the CCP aren’t Han? Strange logic there.
@GB:
“Neither, Putin and his oligarchy nor the CCP have an especially strong cultural attachment to their capitals.”
So it must come as a relief to know that your Oligarchy is different:
https://gab.com/BostonDave/posts/106451394373015415
Change, National Revival, call it what you will, Begins at Home. Fix yourselves and the Chinese and Russians won’t be a problem. Don’t fix yourselves and no adventures Over There (for whatever value of There) can save you.
CanDo! solves all the foreign policy dilemmas facing the US and the world(?) by blaming the US domestic issues (melanin must be chief among them) and by implication potential US adventurism abroad. How convenient that the CCP and Russia escape scrutiny. Someone’s rice bowl is insecure.
@om:
Which part of Grifting Sikh F&##@&$s Foreigners instead of sorting out %^&* at (not HER) home for (not HER) people (Legacy Americans) do you not grasp?
Can Do! gets down to the gutter where he is most comfortable.
Sort out the problems in your homeland before preaching about mine? How does that work for you Can Do? Touched another nerve?
Am I talking down to Can Do? 🙂
Sometimes have to get down in the gutter in order to explain basic priorities to folks.
And we interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming to present “Ethics 2, the Sequel”:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/06/psaki-wh-has-highest-ethical-standards-despite-many-admin-family-hires/
Yes, it’s looking increasingly as though “credibility” is a white supremacist, racist, male, Republican, colonialist, capitalist construct…and will soon enjoy “most-favored” status as a woke imprecation!—that is, if it hasn’t already happened.
(Clearly, “The Bee” has been so incredibly successful that it’s spawning all kinds of imitators…. I guess getting sued by the NYT will do that!)
Can Do! assumes that his arguments rise above the gutter. It isn’t a problem that he is not understood, quite the opposite.
…but there is still hope, as demonstrated by this upcoming Indie release from Switzerland—with no professional actors, lots of ornery cows and amazing scenery:
“Heidi Strikes Back!”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/swiss-reject-climate-change-zoomers-and-millennials-leading-way
“…the menu…”
Yep, Knish nails it.
Again.
(Though it would be nice if he weren’t so repetitive. Still…thanks for the link.)
Now who ever suspected that “Biden” could be such a clever thug?
OTOH, a lot of people may soon find out that history is a b***h…
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/06/21/operation-barbarossa-the-most-barbarous-conflict-in-history/
File under: History? What’s that?
The Repetitious Knish is paid to do a job of work and the Shillman Foundation get their money’s worth plus some. To their and his great credit they seem to have realized that the old Neocon MO is past use-by date and are going for a more dare I say it nuanced mutual back-scratching and less insulting to the intellect angle on tail wagging dog.
Personally I much prefer his style to the tired Harry Jaffa Ben Shapiro Two Step.
A little humor to kick off the day…. You just KNEW this was coming!!…
“US State Dept. spokesman: Iranian election was not ‘free and fair’ ”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/544510
om,
Given their ruthless pragmatism, I think it unlikely that either Putin or Xi are highly invested in Moscow or Beijing.
Putin grew up in what was then Leningrad, now once again St. Petersburg. Xi grew up in N.W. & S. China.
You’re American, is NYC of particular importance to most Americans? Whereas, Washington D.C. is to almost every American over 50… in its societal impact, no other city in America compares.
Yet the larger point in Israel not listing Moscow and Beijing is the likelihood that if credibly threatened, Putin and Xi might well preemptively attack Israel. None of the Western nations would do so out of humanitarian concerns and Islamists will not risk Mecca.
Zaphod,
“it must come as a relief to know that your Oligarchy is different”
America’s Oligarchy is different because “he who makes the rules, rules the roost” and for all our oligarchy’s money and influence, they need the political power in Washington D.C. to make the rules the Oligarchy favors.
Geoffrey Britian:
Something comes to mind about willful blindness in your assumptions regarding Russian or Han culture. Regarding the importance of specific cities in the US, another opinion firmly stated without substantiation. Keep digging in that hole of grand “strategery.”
“Maybe it was just a backchannel idea that France put out to keep the US wondering.” – huxley
Saddam averred a front-channel idea that he had WMD, supposedly to keep Iran from attacking Iraq (well, more than they already had).
Ambiguity didn’t work out too well for him.
(NOTE: not intended to open the Can of Worms about the Gulf War, please. Just an observation that history rhymes and no idea under the sun is new.)
}}} the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
}}} I read that passage that perhaps the Biden administration is admiring and even envious of Raisi.
As you note, there is the connection. Biden’s ilk can dream, can’t they?
Who’s Raisi?
Meet ‘The Butcher,’ Iran’s New President Ebrahim Raisi