Diplomatic Vandalism--Trump, Tillerson, Iran

[Dill]

Bush and a Republican Congress trashed Clinton's North Korean Argreement.

Within four years Kim Jong-il had a nuke. How many does Jong-un have? 50+?

Now Trump is reconsidering the current Ian deal, though Iran is compliant, per this letter just sent by Tillerson to Ryan.

https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/04/270315.htm

Dear Mr. Speaker:

This letter certifies that the conditions of Section 135(d)(6) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA), as amended, including as amended by the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-17), enacted May 22, 2015, are met as of April 18, 2017.

Notwithstanding, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods. President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States. When the interagency review is completed, the administration looks forward to working with Congress on this issue.
Sincerely,
Rex W. Tillerson

It took years to get China, Russia, France and Great Britain all on the same page with Iran. Without all those countries working together, no sanctions will work. If Trump decides to reinstate sanctions, that will likely mean only the US would comply.  Iran can restart its nuke program and no one will bother working up treaties with the US again.

If Trump undoes this it will just be diplomatic vandalism.  If only Rouhani could have 1/2 hour with Trump!

[Vas Deferens]

Mount up boys, we're trollin' for justification. We're definitely going to need some privatized boots on the ground on this one.

[Dill]

(04-19-2017, 02:30 AM)Vas Deferens Wrote: Mount up boys, we're trollin' for justification.  We're definitely going to need some privatized boots on the ground on this one.

I was thinking about this while listening to Hannity on Monday. He went on and on about how Clinton's treaty failed and Obama did nothing.

Not a word about who was president during NKs first nuclear test in 2006, or the lesson of Iraq for all dictators.

Now he wants Trump to scrap the Iran deal. And he has Trump's ear.

[CageTheBengal]

God, I am so tired of winning.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/04/04/navy-iranian-weapons-confiscated-at-sea-and-its-the-third-time-in-two-months/?utm_term=.640218f2e6cb
"The U.S. Navy has confiscated a cache of weapons that it believes was being transported from Iran to Houthi rebels in Yemen, marking at least the third time in two months that such a shipment was stopped, Navy officials said.

Naval forces aboard the USS Sirocco, a coastal patrol ship, intercepted and seized the weapons March 28 from a small craft commonly known as a dhow in the Arabian Sea, the Navy announced Monday. The cache included about 1,500 Kalashnikov rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 21 .50-caliber machine guns, the Navy said."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26451421
"Israel says it has seized a ship carrying advanced Iranian weapons made in Syria that was heading towards Gaza."

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-ship-unloads-185-tons-of-weapons-military-equipment-for-houthis-in-yemen/
"An Iranian ship unloaded 185 tons of weapons and military equipment at a Houthi-controlled al-Saleef port in Yemen, al Arabiya reports."



Iran is really not helping the whole World Peace thing. That's articles from 2014, 2015, and 2016, all basically about the same thing. Even your post says they're a leading state sponsor of terror.

[Millhouse]

Trusting Iran to do the right thing while giving them free money & trade is pretty naive. Especially when they have Russia as a buddy. Im with Tillerson & Israel on this, however I wouldnt scrap the deal that Iran still hasn't officially signed off on just yet.

[fredtoast]

(04-20-2017, 12:30 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Trusting Iran to do the right thing while giving them free money & trade is pretty naive

That is why the agreement is not just based on "trust" but also verification.

[Dill]

(04-20-2017, 09:35 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Iran is really not helping the whole World Peace thing. That's articles from 2014, 2015, and 2016, all basically about the same thing. Even your post says they're a leading state sponsor of terror.

Well, you bring up a good point, LL. 

Let me say, though, that I don't see any of the abovementioned conflicts as representing the forces of sheer good vs sheer evil.   I don't define "terror" the way the US administration does.

Most people in the US and Western Europe say Israel has a right to defend itself.  I am not sure what this right is based upon if it means the people whose land they took have no right to defend the little bit they have left. 

I would say that shoving the Palestinians off their land and onto an enclosed reservation like Gaza (an occupied reservation in the case of the West Bank) is also not helping the world peace thing. I dislike Hamas for the same reasons that I dislike all fundamentalisms. But we have Hamas because of Israeli policies, not because a bunch of Arabs trapped on a little strip of land one day just decided to be bad people. 

The Houthi and organizations like Hezbollah are now recipients of Iranian weapons in part because they are under existential threat (for decades in the case of Hezbollah) and because they are the Iranians coreligionists.  Helping them survive is not prima facie spreading terrorism.

[Dill]

(04-20-2017, 12:30 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Trusting Iran to do the right thing while giving them free money & trade is pretty naive. Especially when they have Russia as a buddy. Im with Tillerson & Israel on this, however I wouldnt scrap the deal that Iran still hasn't officially signed off on just yet.

Fred is right. There is more "verify" than "trust" in the current treaty.

But what would the alternative be? 

[Rotobeast]

(04-20-2017, 10:22 PM)Dill Wrote: Well, you bring up a good point, LL. 

Let me say, though, that I don't see any of the abovementioned conflicts as representing the forces of sheer good vs sheer evil.   I don't define "terror" the way the US administration does.

Most people in the US and Western Europe say Israel has a right to defend itself.  I am not sure what this right is based upon if it means the people whose land they took have no right to defend the little bit they have left. 

I would say that shoving the Palestinians off their land and onto an enclosed reservation like Gaza (an occupied reservation in the case of the West Bank) is also not helping the world peace thing. I dislike Hamas for the same reasons that I dislike all fundamentalisms. But we have Hamas because of Israeli policies, not because a bunch of Arabs trapped on a little strip of land one day just decided to be bad people. 

The Houthi and organizations like Hezbollah are now recipients of Iranian weapons in part because they are under existential threat (for decades in the case of Hezbollah) and because they are the Iranians coreligionists.  Helping them survive is not prima facie spreading terrorism.

This !

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