Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R – TN) has angrily condemned a vote by the UN Security Council to endorse the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, calling the vote “inappropriate” and “contrary to the spirit” of recent Senate bills on the matter.
The Security Council endorsed the deal unanimously, but Sen. Corker insists they shouldn’t have even been allowed to consider it for approval until after the 60-day review period the Senate has given the US Congress to endorse or veto the pact itself.
There was no reason to expect the UN to wait because of something the US Congress has planned, of course, nor should it be surprising that the White House, having already signed the deal, would vote in favor of it at the UN, despite Corker’s belief that the vote should’ve been withheld pending Congressional votes.
A number of Congressmen issued statements demanding that the Security Council vote be retracted until after a congressional vote, and saying nothing would stop Congress from having their own vote. That, again, is unsurprising, but with the Congressional veto of the deal seen as a long-shot at best, it’s hard to imagine anyone else is going to feel obliged to wait until the Israel Lobby has its say on the matter.
Sure, the UN has got to worry about what the corrupt US senate decides. Megalomania anyone?
The senate forgets that the deal is between Iran and the P5+1, not just Iran and the US. Whether the US senate agrees or not at this point, the remaining countries will move forward with removing their sanctions with Iran as it complies with the agreement. Should congress overturn Obama's veto (unlikely), only the US sanctions will be upheld and some of those can be terminated by the WH without requiring congressional approval. Even the ones that congress chooses to uphold will be of no consequence as the other countries will not honor them.
This is a huge loss for the Israel lobby. Not only has it publicly failed to kill the Iran deal, it has exposed itself to the American public as Israel's 5th column – agents of a foreign nation that have failed to register as such. It operates best as a night flower and withers in the sunlight. Netanyahu was a godsend – a less repugnant leader would not have hastened the demise of the Israel lobby as quickly as he did! The beauty of this situation is that the more desperately he fights against the Iran deal, the quicker the people of this country will turn on him. The time is ripe to push for forcing AIPAC et alia to register as foreign agents and remove their tax-exempt status as they have been shown to be interfering in our election process.
Another benefit of this drama is that in election season, we are seeing which members of congress are putting the interest of Israel above those of the US. We are seeing who the traitors are, and it is now possible to have the Israel debate in public – something that would not have been possible just a few years ago. We finally have opportunity to reclaim the republic back from Israeli tentacles. It is now okay to challenge the dual loyalty of Israel-firsters without being branded by the scary label of "antisemite". It is time for our venal politicians to wake up to the new reality and quickly decide on which side of history they want to be remembered for. The dead-cat bounce may fool some to go down with the ship. The rest of the country is moving forward without them.
The Iran deal also provides us with the opportunity to change our interventionist policies in the Mideast. Iran can fight ISIS, which Israel seems to have been funding and aiding. There is no longer any excuse for continuing to send our tax dollars to Israel and that money could be better spent here at home. We should be pushing to shut off that spigot post haste. Iran and Syria are more natural allies than Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Spot friggin' on!!!
Walker will bomb on day 1
Instead of waiting for the Inauguration ,Walker should say he will bomb now. No body among Republican base won't even notice. He simply should claim that he has successfully bombed Iran. Bingo! He will be the GOP candidate in one missing strike .
He can try same after 4 yrs for 2020. No one in Republican base will remember .
> “The time is ripe to push for forcing AIPAC et alia to register as foreign agents and remove their tax-exempt status as they have been shown to be interfering in our election process.”
Not to mention subversion, espionage, and the maiming and murder of the crew of the USS Liberty.
The reality of the Senate's irrelevance is a hard pill for them to swallow no doubt. But to expect the rest of the world to wait until they have their say is monumental arrogance. I'm sure Obama is having quite a chuckle right now. Now if the rest of the Israel-Firsters in his cabinet would only resign.
They did this to themselves. When you over reach, you get nothing.
Israel via AIPAC and Congress could have had substantial input into the terms of the deal. They might even have killed it, with subtlety. Instead, they did this, and got nothing. Good. Couldn't happen to anyone more deserving.
Why doesn't Sen. Corker go jump off a cliff. Do the world a big favor. Warmonger asshole neocon.
The UN vote was probably intended by Obama to put pressure of Congress, hence the anger. It also allows countries other than the US to resume trade with Iran. The EU has been quick off the mark, with the German economics minister already in Teheran (the low euro, thanks to Greece, makes Eurozone goods very attractive on overseas markets). The Chinese will hardly be far behind. The big loser is, of course, Putin. He now faces yet another competitor for the EU and Chinese energy markets and the stranglehold startegy he has adopted up to now has been weakened.
Russia's position is incrementally weakened by any additional global energy supply; so is that of US oil shale and Canadian tar sands. Russia's strength is in gas production which requires long lead time infrastructure development. Iran has lots of gas but it will take many years to bring this supply to market.
The real losers are US businesses. With all the talk of unilateral US sanctions "snap back" and what various Republican presidents will do their first day in office, there is no point in Iran entering into any deal with a US based company. The rest of the world will beat a path to Iran to sell their wares and American companies and there workers will we left out. American produces very little that Iran cannot source from somewhere else in the world.
Jason, what exactly could the Fifth Column, er, Congress, veto even with a super majority? Is anything Congress does actually binding on the Security Council? Could they force the executive branch to rescind our approval?
Good questions, Libertyrising.
My read of the situation is that the United States Senate ratified the UN Charter as a treaty in 1945 and is obligated under that treaty to conform with UN Security Council resolutions — at least those issued with reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, and if I am not mistaken, this one is.
In order to be free of that obligation, the US would have to abrogate the treaty. In which case, of course, it would no longer have any claim to its seats in the General Assembly and the Security Council.
Bolton wanted to bomb UN . He is making sure Anerican leave the building before this patriotic duty is made possible.
The UN and its Security Council deal only with the executive branches of their member states. Nothing what legislative branches do is binding on the UN Security Council.
My computer cut me off. Hence I will here finish my statement. The only fact which the modern King Canute Corker can be mad about is that President Obama did not veto his own agreement in the Security Council of the UN!
senators couldn't slam a door let alone get through one.
when will Netanyahu shut up ? he has been saying Iran is making nukes for 20 years and he wont stop saying it.
My solution is to just stop listening – which I did a long time ago. That cockroach is irrelevant.
Oh dear – how sad. It's not fun realising noone gives a rats what your sad little Govt thinks anymore. Hopefully this first timid steps towards independence by Europe will gather pace and they find their own non Washington approved positions on Israel and Ukraine before it's too late.