“As soon as the Obama administration reaches an anticipated deal with Iran over its nuclear program, it will face a new challenge that threatens to strangle the accord in its crib: the inevitable attempts on Capitol Hill to impose new economic sanctions on Tehran. Expectations are high in Washington that John Kerry, the secretary of state, will announce a limited, short-term deal with Iran, following his unexpected arrival in Geneva on Friday to participate in negotiations. Yet the White House was quick to say that it is resolved to “protecting the broader architecture of the sanctions program,” as deputy press secretary Josh Earnest put it on Friday………….”
So the White House is “resolved to protecting the broader architecture of the sanctions program,” That was probably said to placate both houses of the Knesset in Washington. So what will any deal be about then? I have an idea, a solution of two parts: (1) the White House will seek to protect the broader architecture of the sanctions program, and (2) the Iranians will seek to protect the broader architecture of their nuclear program. Cheers
mhg
“Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to arm and train thousands of Syrian militiamen in a new opposition force dubbed ‘Army of Islam’ to fight the national military, The Guardian daily reported Thursday. Citing Syrian, Arab and western sources, the UK newspaper said the intensifying Saudi effort is focused on Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam or JAI), created in late September by a union of 43 Syrian groups. According the article, the JAI will be trained with Pakistani help, and estimates of its likely strength range from 5,000 to more than 50,000. But diplomats and experts warned on Thursday that there are serious doubts about its prospects as well as fears of “blowback” by extremists returning from Syria…………”
The Saudis also demanded that all “other” countries, like Iran and Russia, stop meddling in Syrian affairs. The idea is for this new Wahhabi army to recreate the glory days of Afghanistan, starting with the 1980s. Financed by Saudi princes and Emirati potentates, armed by the Western powers, trained by Pakistan’s ruling military generals of the ISI. Does this remind you of anything, perhaps a Wahhabi blast from the past that created the Taliban and Al-Qaeda?
“In the wake of a forensics report claiming that Yasser Arafat was killed by radioactive material, the Palestinian committee investigating his death accused Israel on Friday of poisoning the Palestinian leader. Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah about the findings of Swiss and Russian experts who conducted tests on Arafat’s remains after exhuming his body last November, Tawfik Tirawi, head of the Palestinian committee, said reports from both groups confirmed that Arafat did not die of old age, illness or natural causes, but that he was poisoned……………”
By the time he died, Yasser Arafat was not a threat to Israel, if he ever was much of a threat. Before his death he was not a threat to anyone except some other Palestinian leaders. Does anybody outside Ramallah believe this new charge? Okay, does anybody outside Ramallah and the Arab League bureaucracy believe this? You would be surprised. It is a good thing they did not point the finger to his widow. Come to think of it………
“”A deal with Iran would be like discovering your partner of many years is cheating on you with someone he or she claims they hate,” said a senior Arab official from a U.S. ally in the region..………..” Now, why do I think the idiotic foreign minister of Bahrain, Al-Khalifa, is the most likely potentate to have made that stupid comment? Of course, we have no shortage of other idiotic potentates in the region……..
