I hadn’t considered the likelihood that a Republican Congress would or will scuttle any effort to make some kind of agreement with Iran regarding their nuclear program, but that was merely an oversight on my part. If the president is for it, then they are obviously against it. And their understanding of the Middle East is so limited that they can’t fathom how Iran might be of some use to us in the region. Republicans don’t know whether the lunatics in Islamic State are Sunnis or Shiites and they frankly don’t care. They have no idea which sect controls Baghdad or what the hell an Alawite is. Ask them what a Kurd is and they’ll just give you a befuddled look.
I’m not sure how we’re even going to survive what the public has done. Weaponizing this much Stupid is incredibly dangerous.
When you weaponize the stupid, this usually occurs at some point. Let’s hope that the US Constitution, which really was created to hobble “extremely effective” central government, performs its role in regard to the weaponized stupid.
Somebody better put a short leash on Menedez. Because the Republican caucus on that committee are a bunch of wild men, and he might cave.
The President must make a fait accompli prior to the new Congress. And he must do it with measures that do not require complete Congressional approval of a treaty. Finally, the set-up requires the Iranian ability to lobby Congress just like other countries (since that has become standard practice, thanks to Citizens United). Then, time and domestic politics will slowly make it happen.
I don’t think that normalization of relations requires Congressional approval or reversing any executive imposed sanctions. Apparently all it takes is an informal agreement and a statement by the President.
A symbolic drawdown of naval forces in the Persian Gulf is a possible confidence-builder. And some diplomatic pressure on Bahrain to move toward empowering their Shiite majority.
Menendez is a problem; he needs to be primaried yesterday.
Of 15 Democratic Senators who opposed Obama on Iran in December 2013 a pretty startling number are no longer with us: Begich, Hagan, Pryor, maybe Landrieu and Warner barely survived.Tell Menendez Aipac doesn’t work.
it’s beyond that; his reasons are non-reasons, just pandering to warmongers and ridiculous. but, yes, will try telephone also
I hope Rush Holt decides to primary him. I guess we should work on that now
I’m not sure how we’re even going to survive what the public has done. Weaponizing this much Stupid is incredibly dangerous.
I don’t blame the public. I blame our TradMed. Why? Because we’ve been told, since Hector was a child, that the TradMed informs us, and all of the rest of that fairy tail. And too many people still believe they do exactly that.
to describe what ails us so deeply, because I think it gets more directly at the root cause of the problem.
Aside from that relatively minor quibble, spot-on.
Isn’t there a list of public policies that enjoy substantial public support that Republicans and Democrats have refused to support or act on? Why not roll them out one by one and let the Republicans and DINOs go on camera saying, “Oh, noes.”
I discussed this prior to the elections. He has to get a deal through lame duck without giving away the store. I don’t see how that’s possible or why anything that went around congress would be of any more value than pigs and ties to the Persians.
What is the record for the number of Vetoes issued against one Congress?
I think the PBO is safe:
He has 66 to beat Gerald Ford’s two-year record.
More important than the number of vetoes (and while on their own the doofuses of the new Congress wouldn’t come up with and pass much legislation, there may be file cabinets filled with “right wing” “think tanks” and Koch/etc. drafted bills ready to go), is how well Obama sells the vetoes to the voting population. Not one of Obama’s strengths, but he may surprise himself and the world if he rises to the challenge.
Not a good sign — particularly with the western media propaganda propping Obama up on the resurrection of the Cold War: This “Putin Isolated” Nonsense Is Dangerous
With MSM like this, no wonder USians are such boobs that they vote for loons like Ernst and Tillis.
I’m not sure that the mainstream media has ever been particularly responsible or that we should expect it to be. However, Putin is probably the farthest thing from a sympathetic figure to most Americans. The media didn’t make him intervene in Ukraine. His missteps rival Obama’s in Libya, Yemen, and Syria. That said, I think that the measures taken against his country are a form of warfare that we would not tolerate if waged against our economy.
Uh, do we overlook the US interference in Urkraine? Two decades worth and even Vicki Nuland admitted had cost $5 billion?
Agree that the US media has never been very responsible. And does love wars. At least until they get FUBAR as in Vietnam and Iraq. However, if we don’t expect/demand better, we for sure won’t get it. The heads of all those in the MSM that championed invading/destroying/occupying Iraq should have rolled right along with the WH WMD liars and torturers, and the thieves at the banks and on Wall St.
So what? This is nothing new or surprising. We meddle, as Russia meddles, in Ukraine just like we have in countless other countries. What changed to make Putin decide to invade a sovereign country and is it truly justifiable under international law? How is it different from the US invading Iraq?
I think demanding better from the media requires it to be discredited. There was a Pew Poll, I think, that came out a month or two that showed that Democrats generally trust all mainstream sources of news. The party, as an institution, needs to discredit the mainstream news in order to be able to demand accountability. I’m framing this around party politics because I think that’s the only effective vehicle for realistic change.
You’re not serious are you? The very long and complex relationship between Russia and parts of Ukraine are irrelevant? They share a border. There is no long history and border between the US and Iraq (they aren’t even on the same continent and share no seas).
The predominant language in eastern Ukraine is Russian — but that’s irrelevant as well? The Black Sea Fleet has been based in Sevastopol for over two hundred years. Transferring Crimea to Ukraine wouldn’t have been considered much less done if it jeopardized the USSR bases there.
In this imaginary recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, how many troops were sent in? Where? How many new, Russian bases, temporary and permanent, were built to support those troops? Is there a new multi-billion dollar Russian “Green Zone” in Ukraine? What areas of Ukraine did Russian military forces bomb? How many civilian casualties and where? How many people did those bombs and Russian military forces displace?
There may be some similarities between the US invasion/occupation of Iraq and recent events between Russia and Ukraine, but at best, they’re so obscure as to be irrelevant.
I almost want to type out a point by point rebuttal but I’ll keep it short to limit the discussion to the original point. Russia leveraged its military might to essentially annex a neighboring, sovereign country. The shared border, language, history, and the naval base are indeed factors but do not justify Putin’s actions. The media is hostile to Putin, an autocrat.
I can imagine scenarios similar to what transpired in Ukraine for the US (albeit with some difficulty because once we grab territories, we never willingly allow them to become sovereign nations). Say we agreed to let HI or AK go — contingent on maintaining our military installations and the ties to the US remain primary. A foreign power through covert means come along to upset the balance of power. The white English speaking residents come under threat and vote to rejoin the US and US military installations are also under threat to be appropriated by the new sovereign nation. Would a POTUS not do something similar to what Putin did? Actually, a POTUS wouldn’t let it go that far — she/he would bomb the shit out of the third nation for the covert activities in the territory was held by the US.
Robert Parry in Letting the Neocons Lead adds more facts and connects more dots than I bothered to research and present.
(‘brilliant’?) coinage.
of course many dems would like to scuttle the deal as well
Several of those DINOs lost last week. But expect we’ll all too soon see Madame Secretary-warhawk touting her tough on Iran agenda to win over all the white men that voted for McCain and Romney. And liberals will look the other way on that as they scream, “The Supreme Court!” and “Republicans are evildoers.”
WMD
Weapons of Moronic Distraction? Perhaps Obama should start searching all over the Oval Office, under the chairs and furniture, behind the file cabinets and in the infamous sitting room off the Oval Office for such WMDs, just to highlight how dangerous the ill-informed can be.