A headline during the election concerning one of Trump’s earlier insanities was - Trump’s plan to seize Iraq’s oil: “It’s not stealing, we’re reimbursing ourselves” The word “reimbursing” is now being used in context with Trump’s assertion that he will force Mexico to pay for the wall. Trump reiterated that he would have seized Iraq’s oil at a speech to the CIA.
This raises the prospect of Trump using military force to seize Mexican gulf oil assets to reimburse the cost of the wall. In terms of the worst things that could ever happen to the USA, military conflict with Mexico when at least 10% of the American population is of Mexican heritage has to be high on the list.
A war with Mexico over payment for the wall is not the only potential war Trump might cause.
“…The question then becomes what did Putin hope to gain by aiding Trump? What Russia and Putin desperately need is money. Even if Putin asked Trump to have the American Treasury transfer, say $200 billion to Russia, that is not going to happen. Even Kellyanne Conway could not spin that one into anything that would be acceptable to the American people or congress.
Absent writing Russia a big check, how could Trump cause Russia to gain $200 billion? The answer would be a $50 increase in the price of oil.
We know what has caused most of the oil price spikes in the last 50 years. That has been wars in the Middle East that blocked the Strait of Hormuz, something Iran could..” http://seekingalpha.com/article/4034048
1
Thanks for writing in support of the Iran Nuclear deal and against Trump's threat to decertify it. Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, defeats his own argument in his companion piece against the deal when he begins his article by asserting that President Trump has long been opposed to the deal. That is the the strongest argument in favor of the deal. We know that Rex Tillerson, with justification, called the president a moron, and probably has called him much worse. Why should anyone listen to what this man says or support what he does in office when it is so apparent that he leads from ignorance and with no effort to learn on the job or appreciate the consequences of his actions. I hope that the supporters of Trump, his base, watched Ken Burns' Vietnam War documentary on PBS and learned something about unnecessary and immoral wars, and the leaders who start and, then, continue them. His base should understand that if the Iran deal is blown up for no reason, and Trump leads us into wars with Iran and North Korea, it will be their sons and daughters who will die fighting in them.
60
trump condones the death penalty for lgbt people and apostates, supports theocracy, and wants to escalate a nuclear exchange. what sort of person voted for him? i think it is obvious.
29
He wants be a dictator.
His fellow Republicans have a strong desire to make themselves rich, and this is their golden opportunity.
America 2017.
23
All you have to know about he Iran Deal is that is was negotiated by Obama and Kerry -- a Black president and a northern liberal -- to know that Trump will never relent from trying to undo it. For him the Deal has a scarlet letter written all over it. That's one of many reasons why he must be removed from office.
42
The pretender in the white house and his complicit velcro are out to ruin the US. Besides undoing everything that President Obama did, they are into total destruction of democracy.
22
Trump was furious when Obama mocked him at the Washington Correspondents Dinner while Obama was in office. You could see Trump has never laughed at his own foibles. Since then his hatred for Obama, who is all things that Trump is not, has overtaken him. Since he has no clue about doing what is best for anyone (not even himself, really), having the "failing NY Times" oppose anything he does just makes him want to do it more. He's about 3 years old inside. If you tell him no, he wants to do whatever it is more than ever.
We elected a crazy, senile dotard who might take us into nuclear war without the least bit of reflection on why that's not a good idea. Thanks so much, Trump supporters, and people who "somehow just didn't like" Hillary. The rest of us are still reeling from your very blind choice.
54
Any president of this nation who discounts the State Dept--people who end wars or keep them for happening -while taunting the American people and the world-with comments like "you'll see" in regards to national security actions is a dangerous child.
33
If Bush had signed a similar deal with North Korea instead of destabilizing the existing arrangement, the world would be a safer place. Don't blow up the deal, use it as a template for similar deals!
14
continued... "a fellow member of Bush's AoE, & NK, freed from their Agreed Framework obligations, & with good reason to believe they were also on the menu, began feverishly building nuclear weapons again so the US would see that the cost of a Saddam-like regime change would be too devastatingly expensive. Now, with Trump making it clear that he (and the GOP in general) want to give Kim Jong-un the Saddam treatment, Kim & Trump are playing nuclear chicken. Kim does NOT want to lose his position as absolute ruler of his little kingdom, & it is a reasonable expectation that, should we try to dethrone him by any means, he will go down fighting. He personally has nothing to lose - give the example of what we did to Saddam. So, the more Trump threatens NK, the more desperate Kim becomes to build his wall of nukes high enough to dissuade Trump from pulling a Dubya & engage in some external regime change. We've left Kim with only two choices. Either he deters US invasion or he dies. Actually, either will cost him his life, so he has every reason to take as many with him when he goes. Trump, only familiar with the zero-sum win-or-lose world of real estate "negotiation," doesn't realize this & is more than likely to start a truly tragic war with millions of deaths (including thousands of American soldiers & civilians in SK). It's well past pulling the 25th Amendment lever on Trump (& possibly Pence & Ryan in turn, until we get down to a sane adult in command).
4
While there are always better deals to be had, the American people and the leaders around the world have no confidence in Trump's ability to create one. He continually crushes deals and agreements without any rational alternative in mind. As he says, "I leave the details to others". This is completely irresponsible. He simply is not up to the task. He is a marketing genius and an expert on fomenting hate. But, he has been honing those qualities his entire life with the guidance of his racist father. These issues are way beyond his skill set. In the end, when the wars come, I can only hope that his group of supporters will step up and go to war for him.
10
Even if Congress reinstates sanctions, the other signatories to the Iran nuclear accord may not. It's no secret that Trump is erratic, dishonest and foolish. It's difficult for me to believe that the other nations will follow our lead.
Instead, the US will impose sanctions, but everyone else with maintain the deal as it is, leaving US businesses the main loser--they alone will be forbidden to do business in Iran. And America's role as the leader of the free world will be further eroded.
21
I really don’t see how we avoid another war with Trump in office. Maybe the generals can restrain him for a while, but the longer he stays in office the more inevitable war with Iran or North Korea becomes...
6
The Iran deal is presently a threat to all countries. Even a most senior leader in Iran stated that Iran fooled the Americans by only blocking some of the Arar nuclear reactor pipes with cement, which is readily reversible by changing the pipes. The deal allows them to do centrifuge research, and their new centrifuges can enrich sufficient bomb-ready uranium within 100 hours, said Salehi. The Institute of Science (c/o Albright) states that they have illegally made excess heavy water all ready for their plutonium-making reactor. Iran is now ready to make atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs to be delivered by their well-tested missiles. They refuse to have their military bomb-making site (Parchin) investigated by the IAEA, only providing selective earth samples that the Iranians collect. The present deal hides these looming threats.
10
If Trump goes back on the deal, a war between Iran and Israel, and likely the U.S., seems certain as they have been quite clear on their intent to move forward with their nuclear program. While there is no question that Iran has been a bad actor in the region, the Iranian people, to a significant degree, are supportive of Americans and critical of their own government.
Any rationale person who cares about peace sees the value in the current agreement. By prolonging Iran's ability to operationalize nuclear weapons, there is hope their internal political situation can improve. If the agreement is scrapped, Iran becomes the North Korea of the Middle East and the likelihood of a nuclear exchange is raised exponentially.
35
After reading some of these comments, I can only look forward to that glorious day when we get to see a Trumpist who's stepping forward to go fight the wars they demand, or who knows a single solitary thing about what the Accord actually says and has done so far, or who has the teeniest clue about little things such as how uranium gets processed or plutonium gets made.
Personally, I'd also like to see fewer threats and more literacy, but of course that's a great deal to ask.
44
No better way to get Trump to scrap the Iran deal then for the NYTs to urge him not to.
2
But Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel wants the Iran nuclear deal to be scrapped by America so that Israel will remain the only nuclear weapons state in the Middle East. While denying that 6 million Christian Muslim Arab Palestinian Israeli's under the dominion of 6.1 million Israeli Jews by occupation, blockade/siege, exile and 2nd class citizenship are not divinely naturally created equal with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And Mr. Vladimir Putin of Russia wants America to scrap the Iran nuclear deal because it is against American values and national security interests to do so. Further isolating and reducing American influence from pulling out of the Paris accords on climate to moving away from TPT it will increase Russian influence in the world. Mr. Putin's selection of Mr. Trump as POTUS was the greatest strategic coup in history.
While Mr. Xi Jinping of China will also be delighted if America scraps the Iran nuclear deal. Doing so will move China even closer to the influential center on nuclear arms control and international security along with it's rising influence on international trade and climate change.
5
As your editorial suggests, between his moronic campaign rhetoric and sick obsession with erasing all things Obama, Trump now finds himself in a trap of his own making.
2
Go ahead, Mr. President, decertify this agreement solely on the basis of your ignorant campaign promise. The fallout will drive away what's left of your base's support. Kicking this can to Congress will do nothing but inflame those of US who are outraged by our 'do nothing' Congress. You "developers" are all the same: You destroy only to profit from rebuilding with inferior, cheaper materials in order to make more undeserving profit. Go ahead, make our day.
3
Trump's complains that Iran is a bad actor in areas not covered by the current deal. But Trump should know that (a) a deal is a deal and (b) it covers only what it covers. Other deals can address presently uncovered areas. While he was getting deferments and fighting the Vietnam War in bad with babes, the US was negotiating various arms control treaties with the Soviet Union--remember it?--one at a time: test ban treaty, then various arms control and reduction treaties, each addressing different matters of concern.
Trump seems no to care about these facts any more than he cares about other facts, all to think that he aggrandizes himself by undoing his predecessor's accomplishments. Such thinking actually diminishes him in the eyes of any person mature enough to have outgrown the sandbox.
6
Actually, Trump never accepted the propositions that a deal is a deal or a deal only covers what it covers. Why do you think he has found himself in court so much?
2
"A repudiation of President Obama could do serious damage to national security".
Editorial Board, repudiating his predecessor's accomplishments is exactly what his base wants the president to do. This is why wealthy Republican donors are threatening to turn of the flow of cash to the party and why there is open secession with the GOP ranks today.
After multiple failures to repeal and replace Obamacare, the president has to do something, anything, to justify his presidency. So far, he's batting zero. He'd much rather alienate America's allies than his base of support at home.
6
By now it should be clear that all three branches (including state governments, mostly) are controlled by a clique eager only to serve its own ends and its masters. In trump's case, he's owned by the money he owes to the Russian mob and therefore by Putin. So he serves Putin's ends by appointing incompetents like De Vos, Tillerson, and others whose only goal is to serve trump's owners. Of course at the same time they are free to feather their own nests. Who will stop them? Mueller? Congress? Some "oversight" committee? Courts in the GOP pocket? Mueller might but soon, I believe, he will be fired and while many people will take to the streets, so what? Will that matter? No. Understand this, folks, what we remember of our government now serves other ends. You think a piece of evil like Roy Moore will upend Congress? He will be welcomed. As far as "our" government goes, "we", that is we who are not their constituency, do not exist except as jokes and pockets to be picked.
So we can lie down and let them; we can wave placards and create phone trees; or we can start to think a bit more out of the box. Our country has been stolen from us. If you can't call the cops who were in on the theft, what do you do?
9
Oh, wake up, this is intended to keep you off of his collusion with Russia. The bigger problem is that if you don't get off that subject, he will begin killing people.
7
"There’s no doubt that Iran is a bad actor on many fronts, not least in its roles in Syria and Yemen."
What are you talking about?
Must have been a typo. Let me correct it for you:
There’s no doubt that the US is a bad actor on many fronts, not least in its roles in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, and apparently Niger, but there could be more that we still don't know about.
There, fixed it for you.
If we're talking reality and facts in any sense of the words, we all know Iran is nowhere near in the same league as bad influence as the US, UK, Israel, FR, Saudis who have created, funded and trained most of the worlds terrorists and all the conflicts in the ME.
But we all like to pretend the bad guys are the others, especially the Iranians because they had the gall to overthrow the Shah, America's puppet, that the US installed after overthrowing the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in order to control Iranian petroleum reserves.
But, yeah, of course the Iranians are the bad guys, the Israelis are the poor frightened victims and America is the savior on a white unicorn bringing freedom and democracy to the region.
Obama ratified this deal much to the well-broadcast displeasure of Netanyahu and to the dismay of the neocons of both parties.
So the US is doing what it always does if they don't like anyone they don't control to get too big for their boots: if they do, it's time to frame them up for elimination.
36
When is America going to wake up and stop this pea-brained maniac from continuing his world-destabilizing policies.
Not to mention his weekly if not daily spats on the home front.
The NY Times editorial board needs to be a bit more courageous in outlining to Republican party leaders what they should be doing rather than simply hoping for Trump to act sensibly.
14
When a great nation stoops to make an agreement with a band of hate-filled terrorists running a nation like an Al Capone running Chicago, that whole enterprise begins with the great nation taking a huge risk of looking foolish.
Bill Clinton and the North Korean tyrant are a perfect example.
With the woefully out-of-place Barack Obama, the U.S. got into another of these destined-to-fail situations. Since the massive extortion payments that this shallow pretender made to Iran already made us look stupid, the FIRST thing to go wrong afterward should have meant an immediate stop to the bad deal that was becoming ridiculous.
This American President is late to deciding thins, but it is past the time to consider this bad deal to have any redeeming value. Our statement negating the deal should be painted on some MOABs and dropped onto Qum and every settled area larger than that, as well as the eight bomb factories that were used to kill Americans during the undeclared Iranian war against American servicemen and journalists in Iraq under President Bush.
Two hard truths coming out of the Obama administration are:
Anyone only he hired for an important job failed because all he went by was hard-core political advantage; and,
Anything that only he arranged or encouraged needs to be ditched.
4
Thanks; it's generally quite useful to have the Right issue these foam-flecked rants, as it clarifies just what a pack of chest-thumpers you wacky kids really are.
I particularly found it hilarious to see a Trumpist yelling about government incompetence, and President Obama's grubbing for political gain at every turn.
12
Israel rules America again. This time putting us in real danger as we disrespect our allies and leave Iran free to put its nuclear program on a par with Israel. Of course Israel will keep assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists and destroying Palestine while murdering Palestinians. Trump will think again he has bested President Obama when, in reality, they are not in any way comparable. Trump and Netanyahu the dumb and smart twins of disaster. Do any GOP supporters care at all about our country?
32
The Times Editorial Board must realize that their opinion of the Trump Administration's public policy is a negative indicator. If the Times is for it, then our contrarian president is against it.
There is no logic to this action. Donald hasn't demonstrated an understanding of the actual terms, nor has he explained his doubts to the other five nations who signed on.
But as a deal maker, he must understand that for their agreement, we released billions of dollars of impounded Iranian money. To back out of the deal now is less than artful.
6
Trump's actions with respect to Iran, like his recent actions with respect to contraception, the environment, and ... you name it, have nothing to do with the respective issues. He is just flipping off the Obama administration, to convince his base that the White House is, and always was, the Lily White House.
33
President Trump is going to throw Congressional Republicans another live hand grenade if he de-certifies the Iran Nuclear Agreement and leaves it to them to decide whether to impose sanctions. Apparently, he learned nothing from the "Repeal and Replace" fiasco.
Decertify is is a political trick box. If Congressional Republicans refuse, the Trump base will savage them. If they concur, the vast majority of voters will savage them, including those Republicans up for election in 2018.
For sure, President Trump will undercut his tax legislation with this ill considered move as the next 60 days will be devoted to the question of whether we want Iran to go nuclear or not.
As long as Donald Trump is President, he is the Congressional Republicans worst enemy. Nothing that Senator Schumer and Representative Pelosi do can compare.
15
So Logical, throw out a deal that prevents a country from building a nuclear bomb while complaining that another country should never have been allowed to have one. ??? Trump either believes he can force other countries to bend to his will or he just wants to blow everything up. And his "generals" will not stop him.
27
Thank you NYT editorial board, but to what end will trump not go to destroy the Obama era? This potus and his cabinet are working to deconstruct, at the hand of Russian and the oligarchs of the world, the democracy of the US, as we sit by watching it and not being able to do anything about it. I have no doubt, regardless of what the left or right have to say, he will rip up the Iran deal, because he can, without impunity.
29
I totally agree and my heart breaks every morning waking up to the reality that this administration continues. When will congress and those in power including the generals wake up and recognize that the emperor has no clothes, is unfit to serve this country and to be President along with all his minions and family - all of whom are robbing the American people of their wealth, their reputation and their soul.
10
Trump makes Obama look great. The contrast is overwhelming. The US is guilty of self-sabotage.
10
Admittedly, two of our middle east allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia prefer us to be at swords point with Iran. Yet there are compelling arguments for better relations. Barring Israel, Iran is the most Western, most culturally advanced country in the region. In keeping with this point, uit is Persian - not an Arab nation. Third, it is Shia, and the Shia are age old foes of the jihadi Wahhabis. If we had had cordial relation Iran would have offered major help in the Afghan war. They offered assistance, which we refused. What i am arguing is for the U.S. to maintain balanced relations in the region.
60
Exactly. We have the worst foreign policy imaginable. We partner with our enemies, the Sunnis. We did a lot of damage to Iran in 1950s and then later when we supported the Shah. We should apologize and get smart. But we won't. Al Qaeda and ISIS are Sunni as is Turkey. The Shia are not the terrorists that attacked Nice, London, etc. what fools we are. I hold the USA in contempt.
Of course our greatest danger now are the home grown angry white male gun people supported by the NRA. And finally we lost the Afghan war years ago.
19
Don't scrap the deal. Amend it.
Start with insisting that inspections include military facilities which are now off-limits. You mean to tell me that nuclear testing and development cannot take place at military facilities out of the sight of nuclear inspectors? Logically, that would be the first place you'd wanted to inspect. This trickery all fits in with the Iranians practice of "takia" which is lying, stealth and deception endorsed by the Koran.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiya
Trump likes to mouth off.
Let's see him regularly take to Twitter, the internet, radio and TV to address the Iranian people directly to implore them to overthrow their illegal, unelected, religious-fanatic, Twelver dictators who run around in their little costumes and 6th century headgear and replace the illegitimate so-called "islamic republic" with a duly constituted form of government which more closely fulfills the aspirations of the majority of the Iranian people.
2
Did you know that the United States only allows international inspection of its civilian reactors, but has refused to allow international inspectors on-site at our military nuclear facilities? True. How can we claim the phony moral high ground to demand that others do what we, ourselves, refuse to do?
5
what happened to the pallets of cash sent in the middle of the night to iran by Obama?
5
They were pallets of Iranian money that was seized under the anti-Iran sanctions. The $400 million was originally paid to the US by the Shah of Iran for military supplies. Soon after, when the Shah was overthrown & Ayatollah Khomeini took power, the US reneged on the deal, keeping the money, but never sending the arms. The matter was being litigated in the International Court & Obama knew it was just a matter of time before the court forced a return of Iran's money, making the US look bad. His administration thought that returning the money voluntarily, ahead of the court's order, would soften the Iranian stance during negotiations. The sanctions forbade any bank transactions between Iran & the west, leaving cash the only way to repay Iran it's own money. We still owe Iran $1.3 billion in interest on the illegally grabbed $400 million, but I doubt Iran will ever see a penny of it.
3
Do you mean the cash that belonged to the Iranian government?
6
You mean the ones we used to send Iran back its own money,mas part of a deal that everybody who cared knew about in advance?
I dunno. They likely spent it. But since we're on the topic of pallets of cash, would you by any chance know just where Ollie North put all the pallets of cash that reagan and his cronies used to finance death squads after their illegal cash-for-arms deal with Iran?
2
An Iran-focused investment forum was held in Zurich this week, where officials and business leaders were mobilising forces against the US effort to scuttle the nuclear deal with Iran. They encourage companies to invest in Iran while urging Congress to push back against Trump's possible move to kill the deal.
The problem is that Trump is so deplorably ignorant and selfish that he refuses to think beyond his own interests. How much would he receive for killing the nuclear agreement? It is working, and the world would be less stable without it. Besides there’s no real alternative to it. He would be wrong to believe that it could be renegotiated.
He spoke about Iran's clandestine activities in the region. In an effort to ease US concerns, A Western diplomat in Tehran said that European and Iranian officials have already begun discussions over Iran’s ballistic-missile programme and its support for proxy groups fighting in Syria and Yemen etc. These pressing issues need to be dealt with separately, not together with the 2015 agreement.
27
Oh, wow! Iran is willing to discuss their ballistic missiles - which, we were told, were supposed to have never existed? What a marvelous bunch of sweet guys, agreeing to talk.
So, we will now list the other times when talking to these soulless tyrants got ANYONE anything good. .............. Any questions?
Before announcing that an American President is going to make money backing out of a terrible deal, you might want to start running these comments through a friend first to avoid looking like .... well, like you do now.
4
Given that our "ally" Saudi Arabia is the largest contributor of money and spreader of radical Islamic Salafism to terrorists (orders of magnitude more than Iran), it's hard to understand why everybody gets so upset with Iran while giving the Saudis a pass. Iran contributes to Syria's Shi'ite leader Assad & Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, since that creates a path from Iran, through Shi'ite ruled Iraq, Shi'ite ruled Syria, and Shi'ite controlled southern Lebanon, to the Mediterranean. Before we overthrew Saddam, Iran was penned up in the Persian Gulf, with no clear path into the Middle East. Now, thanks to the invasion of Iraq, which is now ruled by pro-Iranian Shi'ites, Iran finally has it's "Shi'ite Crescent" from the Persian Gulf all the way to the Mediterranean.
During the Gulf War, George H. W. Bush & the "realists" among his advisors realized that toppling Saddam would open this gate, so they stopped short of Baghdad. Dubya & his advisors were too steeped in neocon ideology to understand the inevitable consequences of toppling Saddam & letting Iraq's majority Shi'ites gain power.
Robert Frost once wrote "Don't ever take down a fence down until you know why it was put up." Bush took down the fence, and the "Unintended Consequences" have been belaboring us and the entire world ever since. Now, Trump wants to tear down every fence he can find & unleash this kind of chaos on the entire world.
5
One may only adore seeing a Trumpist complain about anybody's leaping to conclusions and playing the fool.
1
Thank you, Editorial Board, for level-headed comments in support of the nuclear accord. I had just finished reading the parallel Op-Ed by Michael Oren in which he hilariously claimed "The Ayatollahs have pledged to destroy Israel and, ultimately, America".
Destroy America? Really? Such a claim reflects poorly on the claimant's intelligence. The Ayatollahs are anything but suicidal, as everyone but the most rabid Neocon-Zionist knows. Even Israel has never been threatened with military aggression by Iran. I am forced to confront relentless Neocon-Zionist propaganda by exposing their lies:
Ex-President Ahmadinejad, even in his worst moment (and there were many), stated that ".... the Zionist regime will disappear from the pages of time," meaning death by natural causes, without a shot being fired, as with the South African Apartheid regime. Netanyahu and others have abused the world's ignorance of the Farsi language to create and perpetuate a Gigantic Lie.
If Israel wishes not to "disappear from the pages of time" it would be better advised to curtail its own atrocious human rights abuses instead of focussing on red herrings. And, by the way, how could Iran drop nuclear weapons on Israel without killing 5 million Palestinians, not to mention inviting cataclysmic retribution?
So please, Israel, stop spreading Brothers Grimm fairy tales intended to scare children. Tearing up the JCPOA merely satisfies the U.S.-Israeli "Divide and Rule" policy.
89
Let Netanyahu fight his own war alongside the addled billionaire contributor from Vegas.
68
Decertify Trump.
79
The real losers, if the nuclear deal is scrapped, are Israel and the United States. Can someone please explain to the world why a nuclear arms race will be good for the Middle East?
8
The Times says don’t scrap the deal. Guess what our egomaniacal President will do.
10
Scrap the deal Obama made as it is an insult to every American.
Because?
1
Surely you know, Editorial Board, that asking President Trump to be a statesman is beyond futile! Our president doesn`t read, and you are asking for a barrage of demented tweets from our failure of a president. Repudiating the achievements and legacy of our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama is as impossible for Trump as sisyphus finally rolling that boulder up the mountain. You aver that Trump should `recertify` the Iran Deal. `The smart thing for Trump to do`. Please! When has Donald Trump ever done `the smart thing`?
10
Trump cannot be allowed to go on. He is limited by his obvious lack of judgment and his immature grasp of the country's and the world's needs. He has appointed and lost virtually a whole cabinet. If there was any need to document his petty mentality and his inability to establish and maintain leadership for the country, his experience with cabinet members provides ample measure of his deficiencies. Trump is not just a bull in the china shop of government; he is a mental midget ignorantly dictating the remaking of our basic rights to suit his small world of prejudices.
22
He has to keep creating chaos because the noose is tightening. My guess his next move will be fire Mueller. He getting out of options. To Ryan. McConnell, Tillerson. The Trumpologists watch out you may go down with him. Are you willing to risk your reputation?
4
Had Netanyahu supported the Iran deal or remained silent would the USA be in the same quandary it is now in
Isrseli, i.e. Jewish and Ziomist, is taking over USA foreign policy It started with the Pallestinian Israeli conflict and the USA accepted to play second then adopted the Israeli position in toto....verbatim then cd with Israel to provide shelter from all universal, international, organizations leading to the situation we are in now
When will,the USA discover the fact that its foreign policy is OK when it gets Isreali approval
2
It is quite pathetic how this president is trying to scrap everything Obama put in place. Spitefulness will get him nowhere.
2
Oh but this agreement has Obama's name on it...Trump must get rid of everything Obama. It threatens his fragile sense of himself.
15
The six partners to this deal all say that is is achieving the desired results. The independent inspectors say that Iran is bidding by the treaty.
The only heads of state who want to scrap the treaty are Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. They have their own obvious motives. But the American people are clear. We don't want anymore American wars in the Middle East. Iran's developing a short range missile does not threaten the United States nor does it violate the treaty.
Withdrawing from the treaty is simply a prelude to war.
10
I believe the original thinking behind the deal was that it was a preliminary way to start a diplomatic process. Obama slowed down some parts of Iran's nuclear ambitions by delaying the bomb. No, it wasn't fully inclusive of every military aspect of nuclear development, e.g. the delivery systems were not covered. But the deal was only a start. What do these deniers expect? Iran was just going to say well, o.k., you win, we don't need to militarize? The plan opened the door with an enemy, gave ten years time, enough for hopefully further deal-making again with a suspicious, hate-filled adversary. But one who just might consider some system that didn't automatically put the Saud family in charge of the Muslim world. Enter Donald Trump, self-proclaimed deal maker. We already know he relies on bullying and bribing to get what he wants. Not deal-making at all. So he's clueless what to do with interests he can't control. He has no clue how to play some pretty good cards he's been dealt. And, Donald, don't listen to your own generals, not exactly a peace-loving bunch. Even though they know a lot more than you. Can't Trump do anything right? No? Just a malicious blow-hard? Uh oh.
4
By what right or regard to anything allows a shady Real Estate Developer with no political experience, who came to office with less votes than his rival and which represented less than 25% of all eligible voters, the ability to break an agreement made with other Global players and abided to and by the party concerned which has met all conditions asked of it?
And in doing so threaten World stability and Peace risking a possible War and encouraging Nuclear proliferation and conflict as a further consequence to such actions and behaviour.
How dare America have such blithe disregard for itself and the impact on the rest of the planet it risks by such poor and misguided events and accepted unrepresentative , minority voting allowing such dishonest, biased and prejudiced amateurish buffoon with neither the skills or personality to listen to others wise counsel, experienced skills and professional knowledge, but his own non existent and uninformed egocentric opinions.
This is what you allow to happen with all the inherent risks and billions of lives involved?
My God.
9
After the immigration ban, Charlottesville, the healthcare debacle(s), the shooting of senators, a mass shooting in Las Vegas, two hurricanes, and North Korea aiming nuclear missiles at the US etc in just six over months perhaps we need this to keep the momentum going?
1
It's ironic how many times the US refers to other countries (Iran, Syria, Cuba, etc) as "bad actors", when the US' foreign policy for decades has been less than sterling. Reminder that the US is the only nation that has used atomic weapons. They hypocrisy is thick.
26
Mr. Trump, you do not surprise me at all. You have a negative view of international commitments. Period.
1
Maybe Trump will do what Obama failed to do in ‘09: Foster the people of Iran to overthrow their tyrannical mullahs.
The starting point is scrapping this horrific “deal”, which is the Obamacare of international treaties. And the GOP senate is complicit.
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Because nation building has worked so well for us in the past. And, if we are going to state that we do not want the Russians interfering with our internal selection process, who are we to go and do the same thing to another country?
Bad actor indeed
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Iran is arguably more democratic than the USA. At least their leaders are there with a majority vote.
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The NYT editorial said:
"There’s no doubt that Iran is a bad actor on many fronts, not least in its roles in Syria and Yemen. But the United States will have a greater chance of addressing those concerns if it rigorously abides by the nuclear deal".
Now, the claim is unsubstantiated, Iran is fighting ISIS in Syria, why is it a bad actor? Apparently the NYT here echoes the grave concern in the IDF about Iran's effort to create a territorial corridor that allows Iran to arm Hezbollah. But why should such a hypothetical better arming of Hezbollah be bad? Just because the Israeli occupation will be challenged in a more militarily efficient way? Just because Israel won't be able to engage in Dahiya doctrine-style retributions if one soldier gets kidnapped?
I believe the decision to confront Iran militarily has been made. The remaining difference among the interested parties is how to frame the whole thing. The more bullish side (Trump, Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu, the Greater Israel lobby, maybe the arms dealers lobby) want a confrontation now. The more dovish side (i.e. the supporters of the two state solution in the Israel lobby, and the two-staters in the IDF and political establishment) want a future confrontation that can be cast as Iran's fault -- they want to provoke Iran to abandon the deal.
Sad thing the NYT is (unintentionally) promoting the memes of the "dovish" side of the confrontation lobby. At least, if the bullish side gets its way, people will know who to blame
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"That the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear activities; the American intelligence community; and the Pentagon confirm that Iran is honoring its commitments seems to have no effect on Mr. Trump’s thinking."
Thinking? Not seeing evidence of that activity with this "president."
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Trump only cares about his ego, which is driven by raging hatred and jealousy of President Obama. Of course he’ll do the wrong thing and seek to end the multilateral Iranian nuclear arms control deal. Trump is uninterested in America and its interests. He’s insane.
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Trump is pushing our allies further apart with every action he or his cabinet members make. This madness won't stop til he has us in a war with some nation somewhere. Then maybe we'll get mad enough to get this guy out of office by next presidential election or sooner if he really messes up.
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Does Trump's inferiority complex to President Obama meet the minimal 'rational basis' test for executive action required by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution? I don't think so. Of course, Trump won't reimpose unilateral sanctions because sanctions are costly to U.S. companies. That's hard enough to do even when there's an actual benefit: Dick Cheney opposed unilateral sanctions on Iran because they cost Halliburton money. With Iran now in compliance, U.S. companies are not going to throw money away just because Trump feels justifiably inferior to President Obama. Lobby away, Wall Street.
Congress has already 'decertified' Trump as Commander-in-Chief on Russia policy. They really need to do the same now, on Iran policy.
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In contrast to this editorial, Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the US, and Danielle Pletka, of the American Enterprise Institute, both denounce the Iran accord in columns currently appearing in this section. They maintain that the agreement does not restrain Iran's aggressive behavior in the Middle East or prevent the country from developing the delivery technology that will enable it to threaten Israel shortly after the accord expires.
Their solution centers on the reimposition of sanctions on the Iranian regime. The notion that the countries of Europe, along with Russia and China, would agree to demand a renegotiation of the pact on pain of losing access to the American market if they refused, defies common sense. These countries collectively represent a much larger slice of the world economy than does the US, and a trade war with them would inflict enormous damage on American companies.
The only rational way to evaluate the Iran accord requires that we compare it with the available alternatives. The peaceful alternative would feature an effort by the US to force a more favorable agreement on Tehran through unilateral sanctions, an approach too weak in its effects to influence the Iranians. The other choice would be war, the folly of which our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan should have made clear.
The accord gives us time to develop a better strategy for dealing with Iran. It would be foolish to scrap it.
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Simple question- does anybody really think that Trump has read it? I seriously do not think he has read the NAFTA agreement, or the Pacific Trade agreement, or anything else for that matter.
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Congress has done nothing so far. Trump's punt of the issue to Congress is comparable to president Obama seeking congressional approval of a strike against the Assad regime in 2013 for its use of chemical weapons. The issue will be debated, but the consensus position that Iran is in compliance will prevail. No sanctions will be imposed. Trump will have the appearance of destroying another part of the Obama legacy, but the legacy will remain, because it was sound policy.
What, however, will Trump have done to the capacity of the U.S to effect positive change in global affairs?
As a fresh face Trump had the opportunity to effect fundamental change on the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong Un even praised Trump during the campaign and Trump praised Kim as a "smart cookie". Trump has destroyed the possibility of negotiating major change in the Korean situation.
While Congress will debate Iran and reveal more cleavage in the U.S. position the U.S. will have lost credibility to be taken seriously. Mr. Trump punting to Congress demonstrates that he lacks what it takes to lead a great country.
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"Deals" of this magnitude should rightfully be ratified by Congress from the beginning. Obama sidestepped Congress by calling this a "deal" and saying that it is "non-binding". This same trick has been used by presidents of both parties going back to FDR.
Trump's request that Congress now "certify" the deal has the practical effect of shifting power back to the legislative branch where it belongs.
The biggest problem is that the Republicans in the Senate want to have it both ways, just like with Obamacare. They bashed Obama over the deal, even if they had no better solution, just to score political points. Now they are being put on the spot and finding that real governance is more difficult than just grandstanding.
We need to slowly return to legislators legislating and executives executing. It has become an almost archaic notion, but it remains the bedrock of our democracy.
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"But there is no guarantee of what Congress will do if a bill is introduced reimposing sanctions or seeking to renegotiate the deal."
Actually, there are good reasons to trust that Congress would actively undermine the accord.
Think back to how many members of Congress received Netanyahu and his hyperbolic speech against the Iran deal. Even Democrats went along with the cynical show, knowing full well Bibi staged it to swipe at President Obama.
Or consider how poor the GOP's utilization of power has been. Despite holding Congress and the White House, they have had a series of legislative failures, especially with healthcare. Republicans need some rallying point, and going after Iran is an easy one for them to agree on.
Trump may technically be washing his hands of Iran, but he knows where Congress will go.
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All candidates make pledges that they walk away from once they are in office. This is one of those pledges that for the sake of world stability should be abandoned. As long as Iran is honoring their part of the Iran deal we need to honor our commitment. Otherwise no other country will ever negotiate with us again in good faith.
The other activities that Iran is engaging in within their region is irrelevant to this deal. That's an issue that the countries they border need to deal with.
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Whatever America via Trump decides to do in regards to withdrawing from the Iran Deal will ensure the following truths:
America cannot be trusted.
America whatever it may say is not what it will do.
America will break its agreement made even when the responsible party is abiding by all imposed conditions and caveats of the agreement made.
North Korea will see exactly that whatever America may say/agree or negotiate is worth nothing by its actions taken, regardless of any promises made.
America's Allies, more and more will understand and realise that America is neither behaving as a responsible partner, acts on its own flawed logic or whims and does so without regard or respect to its partners or common morality , reason and logic.
America behaves not as leader of the Free World but as an embarrassment to its own promoted image and values that no longer apply to what is more and more becoming a rogue State uninterested in consensus or in tandem with majority (and even complete) World opinion, standards and behaviour.
All of that will be the result of an act and action that can only further threaten World stability and peace for no good or apparent reason whatsoever.
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It should be clear to anyone familiar with the nuclear deal with Iran that Trump’s hostility to it is neither due to US national interest nor to any flaws in the agreement, which Trump has not even read or understood. It has to do with two main issues, to oppose and undermine everything that President Obama did due to a childish obsession with the achievements of his predecessor, and to curry favor with Netanyahu. The issue of Iran’s missiles, which is not covered by the nuclear deal, or Iran allegedly being “a bad actor” in the region, are separate issues that could be addressed separately, presumably in the same 5+1 context. The Neoconservatives around President George W. Bush led America to a disastrous war on the basis of lies about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. If there were any doubt about Saddam’s nuclear weapons, in the case of Iran the United States does not even have that excuse because the nuclear watchdog has certified on eight occasions since the agreement that Iran is fully complying with it. Another disastrous war this time against a much bigger and more powerful country will cost the world dear and may spell the end of American empire. All people of goodwill within the administration should stop Trump from committing that madness.
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So far it seems that President Trump is more adept at the art of breaking a deal than making a deal. And, as with with the the climate change deal (aka accord), to "scrap the Iran deal" would be another major Raw Deal for us and the world now trying to contain North Korea's nuclear program. It is non-sense; it is irrational. But, that's the person making our policy.
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Keep the Iran Deal, President Trump!
Don't let the neocons, itching for another illegal war of aggression in the Middle East, talk you out of it.
Time to "nation build" at home. Over the last 12 months, the United States has accrued a $783 BILLION trade deficit.
Make deals, not war! Time to re-build the U.S. economy and spend our tax dollars at home instead of on illegal wars in sovereign nations.
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Donald Trump "reportedly is annoyed by the process" of recertifying the deal with Iran. Well, of course he is. This task requires a fairly broad perspective, an appreciation for international diplomacy, and some thought.
Donald Trump's infantile outbreaks of petulant annoyance are a plaque on the US. Isn't there some way to vaccinate him against his own constant fevers, or to inoculate us? There must be a gilded tower somewhere tall enough to keep this petty, selfish, thoughtless man isolated ...
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I hope he has the sense to follow the advice of his National Security team on such matters of national and global interest. Trump obviously does not possess the intellect to make these decisions alone. Unfortunately, he does have three more years on the world stage to talk about himself. Three years to enrich himself and his family. Three years to reopen old wounds and three years to debase everything he touches. His believers are waiting for miracles to happen while those who should know better have learned the shameless art of flattery. Will tribes suspicious of each other finally unite to rescue us from this boy king?
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The USA has never honored any of the myriad treaties it has negotiated over the years. Whether with Native Americans or with other countries. So it's nothing new if Trump tears up the deal with Iran. Simply true to form. In any case there's no reason why Iran should be prevented from proceeding with its nuclear industry. No one has objected to Israel's acquisition of nuclear weapons. And in the case of North Korea its development of nuclear facilities is surely for much needed defense.
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There are reasons to keep the deal, and arguments to scrap it. To Trump, these do not matter...The only thing to score a win and appease his base is to destroy the Obama legacy. That was very apparent with the Paris Accords, and it drives his thinking.
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There is well known Tamil saying "He who eats salt, will drink water"
Americans, much to the disgust of well wishers around the world, went about causally elected Trump and now paying for their reckless act.
As David Brooks put it "While running for office, Donald Trump violated every norm of statesmanship built up over these many centuries, and it turned out many people didn’t notice or didn’t care. The faith in the West collapsed from within".
Americans have installed a monkey as President. The problem is to keep the monkey mind from running off into all kinds of thoughts.
A thoughtful statesman would have realized the value of keeping out nuclear weapon out of Iran. Unfortunately Trump is neither thoughtful or a statesman. His threat not to certify Iran is complying with the nuclear deal will be golden opportunity for Iran to go for nuclear bomb in short time, creating one more North Korea like nightmare for US.
Mr. Trump, with you as the American President country needs no enemy!
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strange that Republicans who are exercised by the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons have little or nothing to say about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, "the Sunni bomb" whose development was financed in large measure by Saudi Arabia.
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Signal to all nations: the US can no longer need trusted to honor its commitments, if the US is bullying you, it is time to develop our otherwise acquire nuclear weapons. Then the bullying will stop and the impotence of the US will be exposed for all to see.
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"Be a statesman, listen to your own military and intelligence officials and put the security of America and its allies ahead of your ego."
Message to the Editorial Board: don't you realize that asking Donald to do the right thing is tantamount to egging him on to do the wrong?
Trump is often compared to a toddler that lurches around the house driven by immediate wants and needs. Toddlers aren't yet civilized, and nor is Trump.
When I catch up on the news each night, I'm always struck at how much Trump's decision making is driven by how own parochial needs and the campaign promises he rashly announced over a period of 7 months when nobody could every fathom him as president.
And yet here we are: foreign policy by emotion and resentment, rather than a realistic view of what policies, treaties, and "deals" help, rather than hurt, our country.
The main theme pundits and Sarah Huckabee Sanders keep coming back to is Trump's fixation with keeping this country safe.
OK--anyone feel safe yet? I'd venture to say that the more the president thumbs his nose at allies, tweets threats to North Korea and blows up agreements just for the hell of it, the faster we're hurtling to that vague "storm" Trump cutely promises is coming.
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I think we need to consider that Mr. Tillerson got it right. The chances of Trump doing the "right" thing are close to nil.
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Yes, and unlike Afghanistan or even Iraq, Iran has a strong, educated class many of whom are either pro-western or at least want better relations with the West. A nation is always easier to work with when it is in relationship with the rest of the world rather than isolated and closed off.
If Mr. Trump really, truly cared about bad behavior he wouldn't be so in love with Putin/Russia; he wouldn't be so taken by the wealthy Saudis.
Yes, Iran is a bad actor, but they have agreed to some meaningful restraints for a significant period of time. That time should be put to productive use building relationships the Iranians will want to keep and trying diplomatically (NOT via Twitter) to nudge them in a better direction. Instead, we have a bull-in-a-china-shop POTUS whose only drivers are ego and ego, an unfortunate part of which is to tear down everything his predecessor did because, in his mind, no one can ever be better than Trump.
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'Iran has a strong, educated class many of whom are either pro-western or at least want better relations with the west.' Your statement has hit the nail right upon its head. A young friend went to Iran on several business trips and remarked to me, in similar terms that you describe and that he was flabbergasted to find the young people so educated and almost western both in dress and mannerism and not in the way some media would have one believe.
It is important to let the Iranian young people continue in their quest. In other words, shared education and communication is the only way forward for peace and friendship with Iran. For that matter, elsewhere around the world.
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"But the United States will have a greater chance of addressing those concerns if it rigorously abides by the nuclear deal and maintains unity with its partners in that endeavor."
The partners in Europe wanted to trade with Iran. That is not a strong stance against the nuclear advances Iran had and can still make.
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It becomes more relevant that he scrap the Iran deal with every passing day; and if he is going to do it at all, it becomes important that he do it sooner rather than later.
Come hell or high-water, the internationally brokered deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons program ends in all its aspects in 2031, and never did include development of delivery technology, such as rockets. In return, sanctions are lifted and Iran gets to trade with the world, facilitating its funding for rocket technology development, maintaining a minimal nuclear weapons capacity and regional terrorism.
A lot of people always regarded that as a very bad deal, and one that gets worse as time goes by and it approaches the end of its shelf-life. Even if Iran abides by it for the entirety of its duration, what it allows them to do is focus on getting the delivery technology right – what has plagued Kim Jong-un of North Korea so much for so long. Then, after years of related development, just when they’re likely to HAVE it right, the curbs on nuclear enrichment and development of bombs disappears, and within months they could have warheads on highly sophisticated rockets.
Moving closer every day toward a very dangerous drop-dead date hoping that somehow the world will be able to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear blackmailing North Korea makes no sense to a lot of concerned people.
So, if Trump means to force the issue and seek a more strategically viable solution, sooner is better.
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I was texted by someone I know who is also an insomniac, suggesting that the Iran deal dies in 2025, not 2031. However, while important aspects of the deal die in 2025, ALL of them (as I wrote) die in 2031.
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Richard, much of what you assess here is true but there are other things to consider, most importantly the other nations that signed on to the agreement. Should we alienate them and further erode the confidence of the rest of the world by not keeping our word and at some point have to deal with a military event in Iran, a bad actor on the world stage for sure, we may mot have the logistical support of those other nations.
Moreover, we have a divided and fractured congress not worth much in the eyes of he country and the world. Our word, although diminished, is what little we have left. To squander that would be foolish. I don't agree that sooner is better than later in this case. If Iran were to engage us in a military confrontation now, it will not end well for them. As we build our own military and continue to fund it, any future engagement would be worse for them even with help from the few friends that have in the region.
Some 70% of Iranian citizens are under the age of 30 and want to embrace western thought and perhaps even a government closer to what the West would describe as a Democracy. In ten years most of the hardliners in Iran will be gone.
I think it's best we wait for a few years, pressure Iran in other ways in Iraq and Yemen and if it doesn't work out, then we can become extreme as the other signers to the agreement will see the nature of Iran's activity and support us. Iran is NOT North Korea.
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If, and a big if, our ALONE leaving the "deal" would stop the development of nuclear weapons, how would that work? They are monitored now. The other signers will stay so they will continue their relations. It looks like we would be the country on the outside with NO say and no place at the table. Eventually, if they want they'll develop a bomb. Having better relations and working towards stalemates in the region over the next ten years seems a reasonable way to approach this predicament. Or I guess we can "nuke" them just to "show them" whose boss here.
Ignoring Iran's proven compliance to the nuclear deal if Trump wants to bully Iran into subservience by refusing to certify the deal and thereby forcing the Congress to do the rest by way of working out punitive actions against Iran beyond the ambit of the agreement terms, he might well appease his base, anti-Iran forces in West Asia, or repudiate Obama's foreign policy achievements but at the heavy cost to the US in terms of its battered image in international community as also the national security implications. However, given his disastrous style of functioning and poor grasp of the statecraft and diplomacy, nothing could be ruled out in his case, except that the nation would be exposed to new uncertainties and risks in the deteriorating international security environment.
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