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Title: Does Obama understand what's been unleashed?
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URL Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/indept ... 1/10/20111019113515106121.html
Published: Oct 20, 2011
Author: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opi
Post Date: 2011-10-20 16:31:11 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 250
Comments: 13
Does Obama understand what's been unleashed? In response to an alleged assassination plot, Washington plans to impose even tougher sanctions on Iran. R A week after news of an alleged Iranian assassination plot in Washington rocked the international scene, public details remain scant. The Obama administration - including the president himself - has spoken with unequivocal certitude regarding the Iranian government’s intentions and involvement. But until he uses the same level of candour to publicly disclose detailed evidence, we will not know anything beyond allegations. Pundits will continue speculating with whodunnit analysis that constructs an incomplete puzzle, but engaging in hypotheticals does not paint a clearer picture. More telling are the increasingly dangerous geopolitical ramifications of this crisis. Almost immediately after announcing the alleged plot, the Obama administration kicked off a full-court press in Congress and at the United Nations to coordinate amplified domestic and international pressure on Iran. There was nothing surprising about the administration’s decision to push for new sanctions. It’s what we always do, regardless of the results. Sanctions have been explained by successive US administrations as punishment for Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism - and more recently, doubts in Washington surrounding the intent of Iran’s nuclear program. New broad-based sanctions on Iran for (publicly unsubstantiated) allegations have raised eyebrows even inside the Obama administration. Here’s the bottom line: Indiscriminate sanctions are meant to change Iran’s strategic calculus to such a degree that the costs of maintaining its current policy trajectory outweigh the benefits - thus pressuring Iran into "changing its behaviour". Listening to Presidents Carter through Obama articulate the success of this strategy during their respective administrations is compelling, except for one minor detail - it’s never actually worked. And it will not work. For nearly 33 years and six US presidential administrations, broad-based sanctions have not compelled the Iranian government to change course. But they have significantly added to tensions between Iran and the United States. By the US' own metric, its track record of success with Iran sanctions is second only to that of Castro’s Cuba. Regardless of whether the assassination allegations against Iran are true, the Obama administration has escalated tensions to a point where we are now on the verge of repeating our same mistakes vis-à-vis Iraq in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Thinking back to last month, one has to wonder whether the recently retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, knew something we don’t when he supported the notion of opening up channels of communication with Iran. Unprompted, Mullen said: "We haven’t had a connection with Iran since 1979. Even in the darkest days of the Cold War, we had links to the Soviet Union. We are not talking to Iran so we don’t understand each other. If something happens, it’s virtually assured that we won’t get it right, that there will be miscalculations which would be extremely dangerous in that part of the world." The Obama administration said it learned of the alleged Iran plot in June, and thus had three full months to plan its roll out to the American public and international community. Admiral Mullen was surely briefed at the earliest stages of planning. Was his overt public support for increased communication with Iran a thinly-veiled warning to the Obama administration and American people that forthcoming missteps would lead to an escalation of tensions and possibly a conflict? A month later, his words appear eerily prophetic: “We have not had a direct link - communication - with Iran since 1979. And I think that has planted many seeds for miscalculation. When you miscalculate, you can escalate and misunderstand.” The tools of statecraft are simple: military action or diplomacy. Anything else - whether it is called containment, dual track, or carrot and stick - is nothing more than a tactic that delays the inevitable choice between these two options. The inconvenient truth of statecraft is that every conflict - even war - ends via negotiations; and everything before negotiations - including war - is for leverage. The effort to presumably delay this inevitable choice has only added pressure to escalate towards the worst outcome. It is through this prism that we must view the trajectory of Obama’s Iran policy - and the administration’s curious reaction to the alleged assassination plot. His full-court press at the UN has raised the foreign policy costs of walking back the very serious allegations leveled against the Islamic Republic. His serious consideration of sanctions on Iran’s oil, gas and central bank has raised the domestic political costs of not ramping up pressure. For years, there has been a concerted effort in Washington to move past status quo sanctions, through the aforementioned next phase of pressure, and onto military conflict. The party he dislodged from the White House in 2008 continues to spearhead these efforts. This begs the question: Does President Obama understand the political forces that have been unleashed - and can he control them? Reza Marashi is Director of Research at the National Iranian American Council and a former Iran desk officer at the US Department of State. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
All that the kenyan understands is his teleprompter. Period.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Ahmadinejad got in front of the U.N. Security Council and told them, "The U.S. was behind the events of 9-11," now, would it?
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
I don't know if he really understands that. He is a teleprompter reader. Thought, real thought, is not within his purview.
This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Ahmadinejad got in front of the U.N. Security Council and told them, "The U.S. was behind the events of 9-11," now, would it? Oh, perish the thought. We all know that the 15 Saudis in the "19Arabswhohateuscuzwe'refree™" were all secretly working for I have been watching the last 20 years of this country, moving towards some self-fulfilling prophecy where it plays out just like the bible says. End of days, Blah blah blah, Israel becomes the center of the world, controlling everything because Jaysus is coming back to rule from his new golden throne on the temple mount in Jerusalem. I'm telling you folks, all of this is a contrivance to make certain that one nation, above all others gets to control the rest of the world, based on the greatest lie every told. The liars who keep this carnival running make money hand over fist off of the misery of others, and the willful destruction of the world and people in it. DO NOT think for one moment that any of this is about any kind of justice, it's about selling the greatest lie in history, so that the sheeple will follow. Same masters will rule over you, just that you'll have a direct line to God through your new banker.
"Call Me Ishmael" -Ishmael, A character from the book "Moby Dick" 1851. "Call Me Fishmeal" -Osama Bin Laden, A character created by the CIA, and the world's Hide And Seek Champion 2001-2011. -Tommythemadartist
The cable on his teleprompter leads back to Tel Aviv.... Lod, click here P.S. I wonder if we could agitate some low-level muslim-cleric overseas to issue a fatwah against Obummer by pinning the murder of Muammar Ghaddafi on him??
Indeed. Funny, (sad), and true. These guys are making bentmember look like ThomasJefferson.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
I'll second that! Without his teleprompter he doesn't have a clue what to say, much like Bush. It is a sad state of affairs when even the elite can't find a semi-intelligent puppet.
God is always good!
Rick, all - It's so in your face now that I believe that they want the most idiotic puppet that they can select for us...Palin, Bachman, Cain...any idiot will be great.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson It's best to stick to a precisely worded script in the current foreign policy theatre because on the one hand you have to appear credible and noble to voters while on the other you have to display support for unconscionable criminals in the illegal Israeli state since its duals make it possible for you to get elected and hold office.
You nailed it - thanks.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson This remains to be seen. Remember, it's not the local banks that will rule, it is the banks of Wall Street.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#2. To: tom007 (#0)
has spoken with unequivocal certitude regarding the Iranian government’s intentions and involvement.
#3. To: Lod (#1)
All that the kenyan understands is his teleprompter. Period.
#4. To: BTP Holdings, tom007 (#2)
has spoken with unequivocal certitude regarding the Iranian government’s intentions and involvement.
Iraq Iran. /FreepTard©
#5. To: tom007 (#0)
#6. To: Original_Intent, Lod (#3)
He is a teleprompter reader. Thought, real thought, is not within his purview.
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#7. To: X-15 (#6)
#8. To: Lod (#1)
#9. To: Lod (#1)
(Edited)
All that the kenyan understands is his teleprompter. Period.
#10. To: RickyJ, 4 (#9)
#11. To: RickyJ (#9)
Without his teleprompter he doesn't have a clue what to say, much like Bush. It is a state of affairs when even the elite can't find a semi-intelligent puppet.
#12. To: Tatarewicz (#11)
#13. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#5)
(Edited)
Same masters will rule over you, just that you'll have a direct line to God through your new banker.
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