Progress on the diplomatic front with Iran could be seriously undermined at a moment’s notice by the US Congress, as imposing yet more sanctions in response to Iranian diplomatic overtures would be a clear sign the US isn’t there to make deals, but to make excuses.
Convincing Congress not to do that is a full time job for the Obama Administration lately, with the White House urging them to at the very least delay their plans for new sanctions for a little while to give the talks a chance to either grow or collapse on their own.
That’s not easy, as Congress imposes new sanctions on Iran every few weeks as a matter of course, and with Israel opposed to the negotiations AIPAC has been heavily lobbying Congress not to allow any delays, and to nip the diplomacy in the bud for Israel’s sake.
There are plenty of hawks who don’t need much convincing in Congress, and the Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are scheduled to push those sanctions next week. Whether they will spurn Obama’s call for time remains to be seen, but in a lobbying battle between the White House and AIPAC, it’s hard to imagine that the Israel lobby doesn’t have the edge.
Ehud Barack Obama could be brainwashed by those neolib hawks. He's very different from the time he was a senator. Russia and China should trade less with the US of Empire and more with Iran.
The results are in.
When a country of slightly less than 8m inhabitants can control the world's only superpower one must accept that a parliamentary system is vastly superior to representative democracy.
We are the hulking muscle, they are the brains.
Except their brains are warped.
I would welcome this. It would bring clarity and Iran could finally wander off with its neighbours on the Eurasian continent with no-one losing face.
The tea party will jump in now as peace makers. Watch for anti semitic oratory. Unfortunately the swastika may return.O tempore O mores.
The Israeli flag is very swastika like neh?Golden Dawnish perhaps?
as always by this and that congress..nothing for the people of the US
and every bit off bowing to the aipac people
what a shame….
when the will of the people is repeatedly ignored endlessly, and regardless of who or whom is elected ..its time to storm the Bastilles. Citizens, 'voters' are powerless ….democracy in America..what a joke
1953—AMERIKA INSTALLS A DIRTY F PUPPETT–THE Shah—AMERIKA HAS BEEN F'ING IRAN EVER SINCE..
Could be a win-win situation for the Democrats, for Obama could veto new sanctions which would then require a majority vote, which would expose all those in Congress who oppose peace with Iran.
The key to world power is legitimacy. We cannot just sell the light on the hill we need to be that light. Talk the talk walk the walk. No one is more hated than a hypocrite. Hard task yes.
Can Obama veto any sanctions bill passed?
Obama flip flopping, manipulative politics is nothing new, in his politics, he sees the danger in isolating the USA but unable to do anything about it. His doing what his been told by those who have their interests in telling him what they want, like Saudis and UAE or AIPAC, one day he is "democrat" the other day he sounds like Dr. Martin Luther King or mimicking Malcom X and the other days, Barack Hussein Obama from Chicago.
The primary reason why the individual citizens of a country create a political structure is a subconscious wish or desire to perpetuate their own dependency relationship of childhood. Simply put, they want a human god to eliminate all risk from their life, pat them on the head, kiss their bruises, put a chicken on every dinner table, clothe their bodies, tuck them into bed at night, and tell them that everything will be alright when they wake up in the morning.
This public demand is incredible, so the human god, the politician, meets incredibility with incredibility by promising the world and delivering nothing. So who is the bigger liar? the public? or the "godfather"?
This public behavior is surrender born of fear, laziness, and expediency. It is the basis of the welfare state as a strategic weapon, useful against a disgusting public.
– Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars
How the US Congress can pretend to represent the USA's citizens when it lets a few hundred AIPAC bullies bribe/threaten them against US interests and those of most people on earth shows how far the USA has drifted from democracy.