Iran nuclear deal bears Obama's personal stamp

REUTERS

US president approved final language on American side of accord reached in Geneva; Obama seeking to use deal as legacy-shaping foreign policy accomplishment at time of low domestic approval ratings.

US President Barack Obama at the White House Photo: Reuters

WASHINGTON - When push came to shove in the closing hours of marathon negotiations in Geneva on Iran's nuclear program, it was President Barack Obama, back at the White House, who approved the final language on the US side before the historic deal was clinched.

It was perhaps only fitting that Obama had the last say. His push for a thaw with Tehran, a longtime US foe, dates back to before his presidency, and no other foreign policy issue bears his personal stamp more since he took office in early 2009.

Behind the risky diplomatic opening is a desire for a big legacy-shaping achievement and a deep aversion to getting America entangled in another Middle East conflict - motives that override misgivings to the Iran deal expressed by close allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The deal that will launch a thousand attack sorties? (Part 1)

theoptimisticconservative | November 26, 2013

This is Part 1 of a two-part post.  Part 2 is here.
It’s hard to overstate the concern with which we should view the nuclear “deal” concluded with Iran on Saturday, 23 November.  Although everyone will wait, there is actually nothing to wait for with this deal: nothing to watch develop.  To say “We’ll see what happens,” in terms of Iran’s compliance, is to misunderstand.  As regards what matters to acquiring a nuclear weapon, Iran won’t change anything she’s been doing.*  She may (or may not) put off further some things she had already suspended, or had announced she was going to delay anyway.   But her program will not actually take a step backward.  It’s not even guaranteed to be suspended in place.  Iran will not end up further from being able to test a warhead than she is today.

In exchange for this absence of concessions, the West has given up two important forms of leverage: an acknowledgment, long demanded by Iran, that she has a “right” to enrich uranium; and the comparative unity (such as it was) of the previous – now defunct – UN sanctions regime.

The U.S. formula on Iran’s right to enrich is that we did not accept it in the Geneva deal, but rather agreed to disagree with Iran on it.  Basically, that means we didn’t want our disagreement to be an obstacle to a deal.

The Daily TIP: Israeli team to travel to U.S. after Obama call "to begin consultations immediately" over final Iran deal‏

Israeli team to travel to U.S. after Obama call "to begin consultations immediately" over final Iran deal After revelations that interim Iran deal not finalized, worries deepen Tehran may pocket concessions and abandon further talks Israeli leaders echo Netanyahu doubts over interim Iran deal U.S.-Iran dispute over enrichment concessions threatens comprehensive talks What we’re watching today:

Runaway train has started downhill:Disagreements break out within hours of Iran accord

Geoff Dyer in Washington
 

Shortly after the historic nuclear agreement was reached with Iran in the early hours of Sunday morning, John Kerry, US secretary of state, took to Twitter to announce a “first step that makes the world safer”. In one of those gestures that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani promptly retweeted his comment.

Yet within hours, both men had also revealed substantial disagreements over the nuclear negotiations in Geneva which served to expose the very large gaps that still lie between this initial deal and a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme over the next six months.

From over here: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims victory for nuclear program

Reza Kahlili 

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed victory over the United States Sunday shortly after a historic nuclear agreement was reached in Geneva between the Islamic Republic and the 5+1 world powers.

Under the agreement, Iran, in return for sanctions relief, will keep much of its nuclear infrastructure, is limited to enriching uranium to the five percent level for six months, will convert its highly enriched uranium of 20 percent to harmless oxide and will allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will be limited to only agreed-on facilities.

Fars News Agency, the media outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, reported that Khamenei in a statement thanked President Hassan Rouhani and his negotiating team for their achievement in Geneva.

Source: Netanyahu Scolded Obama in Phone Call on Iran Deal

Joel B. Pollak

"The prime minister made it clear to the most powerful man on earth that if he intends to stay the most powerful man on earth, it's important to make a change in American policy because the practical result of his current policy is liable to lead him to the same failure that the Americans absorbed in North Korea and Pakistan, and Iran could be next in line." 

That was the message conveyed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Barack Obama in a private telephone call Sunday to discuss the interim deal on Iran's nuclear program, according to a senior Israeli lawmaker in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The White House's own official statement on the telephone call made no mention of any disagreement being aired, merely referring to "their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

The goal of Obama's foreign policy

By CAROLINE B. GLICK

 

Obama never explained how allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium decreases the likelihood of war.

US President Barack Obama. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

It isn’t surprising that the US and the other five powers signed a deal with Iran on Saturday. Over the past few weeks, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that they were committed to signing a deal with Iran as quickly as possible.

And it isn’t surprising that the deal these overeager leaders signed with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism makes the world a much more dangerous place than it was before the agreement was concluded.

With the US and its allies far more eager to reach an accord with Iran on its illicit nuclear weapons program than Iran was, it was obvious from the outset that any deal ultimately reached, at least as long as these negotiating conditions remained in force, would facilitate rather than inhibit Iran’s quest to build a nuclear arsenal. And indeed, the sanctions relief that Iran has gained simply by signing on the dotted line will be sufficient to buffet the Iranian economy through a successful nuclear weapons test.

Iranians interpretation-hmmm!

MEMRI Daily: November 25, 2013

The Geneva Joint Plan Of Action According To Iranian President Rohani And Iranian FM Zarif Iranian President Hassan Rohani: Iran's Enrichment Activities Will Proceed Similar To The Past

Special Dispatch No. 5535
 
The Geneva Joint Plan Of Action According To Iranian President Rohani And Iranian FM Zarif
 
The right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil is the right of the Iranian
nation and everyone can interpret it as they wish... The text states
explicitly that Iran will continue to enrich [uranium], and for this reason
I say to the Iranian nation that the uranium enrichment activity in Iran
will continue as in the past."
– Iranian President Hassan Rohani, November 24, 2013
 
Following the announcement of the signing of the Joint Plan of Action in Geneva between Iran and the 5+1 group, Iranian President Hassan Rohani, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and Iranian negotiating team head Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi gave their versions of the content of the agreement.
 
An examination of the agreement shows that these statements by Iranian statements by U.S. administration spokesmen are not.

Egypt: "Why Not Us?"

Michael Armanious

No one in his right mind will invest in a country where persecution -- and not the rule of law -- is the norm. Egypt has, in other words, declared war on the people who are in the best position to help it develop.
"They are creating terrorists." — Fatima Naoot, Egyptian poet.

Two and half years after the January 25, 2011 revolution, Egyptians still are wondering about their dream of building a modern Egypt. They look around, see the economic successes of China, South Korea and Israel and ask "Why not us?"
It is a reasonable question. The Egyptian economy has stagnated while the rest of the world has moved ahead. Since the 1950s, China has become an economic powerhouse, recently designated by the World Bank as the second largest economy after the USA. Less than 70 years ago, South Korea was a wasteland. Today it is the world's 11th largest economy and has a vibrant, emerging democratic culture. Just 65 years ago, Israel was born. Today it is home to more start-ups and IPOs per capita than any other country in the world.

France Invests in Israel

Michael Curtis

It is dispiriting that the temperature of the Obama Administration towards Israel appears to be lukewarm, if not cold. By contrast, it is heartening that the relationship between France and Israel is warm and growing stronger, not only politically but also in economic relationships.

The three-day visit of French President Francois Hollande to Israel in November 2013 was largely focused on discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerning the Iranian nuclear issue. Most attention and analysis of the visit understandingly addressed this issue. But equally important, and perhaps more important in the long run, were economic contracts and developments resulting from the visit. Not surprisingly, since the president was accompanied by a large group of business leaders, important, though less publicized, economic agreements were made. President Hollande showed he was determined to have French publicly-owned companies invest in Israel. 

Fiasco in Geneva

P. David Hornik

“Israel is the sinister, unclean, rabid dog of the region…. The Zionist regime is a regime whose pillars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that on Wednesday to a huge assembly of his Basij militiamen. The Times of Israel noted that “Footage of the event showed the crowd shouting ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel.’”

Slightly later the BBC gave this translation (find it here) of parts of Khamenei’s speech:

We are against the arrogance. We fight against the arrogance…. The government of the United States of America is on the top of the arrogance in the world. [The audience repeatedly chants: "Death to America."]
The Zionist regime is doomed to oblivion. The Zionist regime is an imposed regime which is formed by force. None of the formations or creatures which are formed by force is durable, and neither is this one…. Unfortunately, some European countries cringe before this creature which is not worthy of the name of a human being, before these leaders of the Zionist regime, who look like beasts and who cannot be called human.

One might wonder: on the eve of the new round of nuclear talks with the P5+1 countries in Geneva, why did Khamenei use such language? Since Khamenei is indeed the “supreme leader” of Iran, and Iran appeared to want an agreement, wouldn’t Khamenei have thought such a tirade would make the P5+1—or at least its leader, the United States—have grave doubts about whom it was dealing with?
The answer is that Khamenei knew better; he knew his words would have no such effect. President Obama announced that a six-month interim deal had been struck, claiming it had “cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb.”

The problem is that it does no such thing.

A few things Obama overlooked

Israel Matzav

Two columns in Monday's JPost look at some of the things about Iran that President Obama overlooked.

This is Herb Keinon.

Or, as Obama enthused, if Iran “seizes this opportunity” to prove to the world that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes, then “the Iranian people will benefit from rejoining the international community, and we can begin to chip away at the mistrust between our two nations. This would provide Iran with a dignified path to forge a new beginning with the wider world based on mutual respect.”

Really? How about Iran’s part in Syrian President Bashar Assad’s massacre of tens of thousands of people? How about its continued development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads that were not even mentioned in the Geneva agreement? How about its role in exporting terrorism around the globe? How about its stoning of women accused of adultery, hanging of homosexuals and gruesome rate of executions? How about the anti- Semitic ranting of its leaders? Does all of the above really render the world a safer place, as Obama said? This agreement shows that Iran can indeed do all of the above, yet still get to be a member of the international community.

How the American Left Turned Against Israel

LARRY GREENFIELD 

In his book The Israel Test, scholar and technologist George Gilder measures the character of political actors by their views toward Israeli democracy and its dynamic economy, which produces advanced agriculture, bio-medical technology, communications systems, cyber security and missile defense capabilities, and efficient energy production, among many modern human achievements.

Two decades of intense American confrontation with radical Islam have put a spotlight on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, revealing that traditional bi-partisan support for Israel has collapsed as leftism has turned harshly against the Jewish state.

There go the evil Israelis: The victims of Syria's war finding care in Israel

Kevin Connolly BBC Middle East correspondent, Tzfat

Casualties are left by guides on the Syrian side of the boundary fence and picked up by Israeli paramedics

Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Q&A: Geneva II
• Arms destruction
• Chemical stockpile
• 'Please let it be over'

In the maternity unit at the Sieff Hospital in the Israeli city of Tzfat, the safe arrival of every baby feels like a minor miracle.

But on the day we visited, there was one little boy among the row of newborns who will one day have quite a story to tell. That is, if his parents ever decide to tell him.

The child's name has to be withheld: publishing any kind of information which could identify him might put him in danger when he goes back to his home village - which is in Syria.

His mother's name or any personal information that might identify her can't be published either. She looked tired but happy when we met her, quick to praise the kindness of the Israeli medical staff who had treated her.

She was already in labour when she went to her local clinic in her home village in Syria - but they told her that they could not treat her.

Iran president: Nuclear "rights" sealed

Embracing disaster

Jihad Watch
The Iranians are thrilled, the Israelis are dismayed: that's how you can tell that this was a deal brokered by the Obama Administration.
"Iran president: Nuclear 'rights' sealed," from the Associated Press, November 24:

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the nuclear deal reached with world powers recognizes Tehran's "rights" to maintain an atomic program. 

The remarks come just hours after Iranian envoys and world powers reached a first-step accord in Geneva aimed at easing Western concerns that Tehran could one day seek nuclear weapons.
Rouhani on Sunday repeated Iran's claim that it would "never" seek atomic weapons.

Follow the money: Europe will benefit economically from Iran accord

BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

Europe has consistently been one of Iran’s largest trade partners, with bilateral trade reaching over 20b. euros.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L) and Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif. Photo: REUTERS

 

BERLIN – The European Union stands to reap major economic benefits from the interim agreement with Iran over resolving Tehran’s nuclear program.
As part of the agreement between the major powers and Iran, key areas where sanctions relief is provided are the lucrative automobile trade and access to its foreign reserves.

Israeli and German foreign policy experts weighed in on the agreement for Europe.

The French-born Israeli Emmanuel Navon told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, “This temporary relief will benefit European car manufacturers that currently export to Iran, such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Rover, Audi, Volkswagen, Renault and Peugeot.”

Navon, who is the director of the Political Science & Communication Department at Jerusalem Orthodox College, added “According to the deal signed in Geneva, Iran will enjoy a relief package worth about $7 billion over the six months of the interim agreement.

This includes giving Iran access to about $3.6b. of its foreign currency holdings that are frozen in overseas bank accounts and some easing of restrictions on Iran’s trade in petrochemical products, precious metals and parts for aircraft and cars.”

The Nuclear Deal With Iran is a Foreign Policy Disaster

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/11/24/the-nuclear-deal-with-iran-is-a-foreign-policy-disaster/
 
“For the first time in nearly a decade we have halted parts of Iran’s nuclear program” announced a jubilant Barack Obama after the news of the just-signed Geneva six-month interim agreement with Iran.
But the American goal for the accord was that the Iranians not “advance their program” of building a uranium nuclear bomb (and perhaps a plutonium bomb too); the apparent deal exactly permits such advancement, plus sanctions relief to Tehran worth about US$9 billion.
This wretched deal offers one occasion when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government, blind to the evil cunning of the regime it so much wants to work with, appeases it with concessions that will come back to haunt it. Geneva and Nov. 24 will be remembered along with Munich and Sep. 29.
Barack Obama has made many foreign policy errors in the past five years, but this is the first to rank as a disaster. Along with the health care law, it is one of his worst-ever steps. John Kerry is a too-eager puppy looking for a deal at any price.
With the U.S. government forfeiting its leadership role, the Israelis, Saudis, and perhaps others are left to cope with a bad situation made worse. War has now become a much more likely prospect. Shame on we Americans for re-electing Barack Obama.
This article was originally published by the National Review Online.

****

http://democracybroadcasting.blogspot.com/2013/11/worse-than-munich-iranian-american.html

The EU is right about Western Sahara — which means it is wrong about Israel

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/eu-holds-contradictory-view-settlements-west-bank-and-western

 

Eugene Kontorovich

 

Commentary: The European Union makes up its own rules for engaging with occupied territories.

 

JERUSALEM — The European Union recently affirmed that there is no international legal problem in signing a deal with an occupying power that extends to the territory it occupies, or from foreign companies doing business in occupied territory.
It did so when it provisionally approved a fisheries agreement earlier this month with Morocco that extends into the territory of occupied Western Sahara, which is beyond Morocco’s recognized sovereign territory.

Moreover, the EU actually pays Morocco for European access to Western Saharan resources. On all these points, the agreement directly contradicts what the EU, in negotiations with Israel, calls fundamental principles of international law.

In recent years, Europe has contested Israel’s insistence that its EU agreements do not apply to Israel’s activities in the West Bank. The EU stance has been celebrated by some as an example of European commitment to international law. The EU’s new deal with Morocco appears to be contradicting those principles.

Angola Bans Islam, Destroys Mosques

OnIslam & Newspapers

http://www.onislam.net/english/news/africa/466297-angola-bans-islam-destroys-mosques.html

also

http://guardianlv.com/2013/11/islam-banned-in-angola/

 

Last October, Muslims from the urban municipality of Viana, Luanda, attended the destruction of the minaret of their mosque Zengo.

LUANDA – According to several Angolan newspapers, Angola has become the first country in the world to ban Islam and Muslims, taking first measures by destroying mosques in the country.

“The process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice,” Rosa Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister of Culture, was quoted by Agence Ecofin on Friday, November 22.

Silva comments were given during her visit last Tuesday to the 6th Commission of the National Assembly.  She asserted that the decision was the latest is a series of efforts to ban ‘illegal’ religious sects.

International law and Judea and Samaria: It’s time to return to the facts

YAIR SHAMIR

It is time to return to the intentions and words of the original drafters of international law, and rely less on specious interpretations with little basis.

Palestinians wave flags on ruins of settlement Photo: Yesh Din

In his November 21 article on “Humanitarian law vs. political choices,” Juan Pedro Schaerer, head of the local delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), repeats the longstanding point of view that Judea and Samaria, what some refer to as the “West Bank,” is “occupied territory.”

In fact, Mr. Schaerer is so certain of this opinion, he invites a public debate on the issue.

However, before stating a contrary point of view, it would be pertinent to begin by debunking Schaerer’s own statements. In the article Schaerer starts, as many opinions do, by quoting Article 42 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, writing: “The facts on the ground were such that they fell squarely into the definition of occupied territory, which is codified in Article 42.”

Yet to preempt an argument frequently used by Israeli authorities, Schaerer states that “international humanitarian law does not require that the territory occupied by a foreign army must belong to a sovereign state.”