Iran restarted enrichment at the underground Fordow site overnight on Wednesday, and on Thursday US officials were accusing Iran of preparing a “nuclear breakout” situation the international community must unite against.
The concept of the “nuclear breakout” has always been ill-defined, but rests on the notion that at some point Iran would have such a substantial civilian nuclear program that it would be tantamount to an irreversible military program. Though it’s not clear that’s even theoretically possible, as nations like Canada and Japan have never been accused of approaching a “breakout” despite huge nuclear programs, attaching the label to Iran has been popular with US hawks and Israel.
The breakout idea is meant to push a narrative in which action, presumably a war, needs to be launched quickly. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the lead in urging other world powers to do something to force Iran back into compliance with the P5+1 deal.
Ironically, Iran was cheerfully compliant with the P5+1 deal until the US withdrew from it, and started preventing other parties from complying with promised sanctions relief. Despite the US not being a party to the deal any longer they continue to harp on its enforcement.
At the same time, Iran has been very up front about what they are doing, and why they are doing it. Iran is seeking to force talks among remaining nuclear deal parties to work out sanctions relief, and believe the only way they can do that is to slowly move out of compliance with the deal. Iran has maintained that this would be a very reversible series of moves, and that it would much rather have sanctions relief than this bigger enrichment rate.The US seems to hope they can threaten them into a status quo where they have neither sanctions relief, nor enrichment, nor any recourse.
The United States sanctions imposed when the Iranians were in total compliance with the UN ratified agreement, is nothing but an economic declaration of War in Iran. To say otherwise puts the mockery on the Americans argument that a foreign power interfering with their elections is tantamount to war, America is attempting to overthrow the Government of Iran, and it is not the first time the Americans have done it! It was the US who first overthrew an elected Government which had ousted The Peacock dynasty the US CIA fomented a coup and reinstalled his Dictatorship. When the Iranians Finally got rid of him the US was attempting to reestablish the Peacock throne again, and were doing it from the US Embassy in Iran…. the reason for the Embassy seizure!
Basically, the US is mentally unbalanced, perhaps because a large number of Americans are emotionally unbalanced since they come from single-parent families, parents want kids out of house as soon as possible, they think sex and gender are different things, and they have an overwhelming love of money, fame and the need to massages their egos (hence the selfie crazy), etc. etc….
Don’t conflate the disgusting and self-serving actions of the individuals who run the policy in the US gov’t with the desires and wishes of the general US public.
I don’t buy your Moral Majority argument either. I’d argue that the extreme wealth inequality between the .001% running this country and the bottom 50% and the commensurate power over one’s destiny that the former has and the latter utterly lacks these days would be enough to stress one’s brain rather than picking on single parents and love of “selfies.”
“think sex and gender are different things”
If someone is born physiologically male and considers themselves to be female (or vice versa), really what business is it of you or I?
If you want people to act more responsibly, the only way to achieve that is to get the State out of micromanaging our lives and allow us to take responsibility for our own lives. “Culture wars” are a dead end, at least if the State is involved, as such a situation denies the primacy of freedom of conscience.
Real quick question for Thomas Knapp, if you are reading this: Just curious, but why do up-votes allow the user to see who made them, but down-votes do not? Is this a disqus thing, or an awc thing?
It probably is to avoid vindictiveness in subsequent comments.
No idea.
Or, rather, it’s a Disqus thing, and I have no knowledge of their reasons for it.
“If someone is born physiologically male and considers themselves to be female (or vice versa), really what business is it of you or I?”
Amen. Thank you. I know you are a believer in God so I really appreciate that you don’t think he is going to smite your ass or you’re going to spend eternity in flames because you have an open mind.
“I know you are a believer in God so I really appreciate that you don’t think he is going to smite your ass or you’re going to spend eternity in flames because you have an open mind.”
I am honestly in no place to judge. I have done some things in my life I am not proud of, things that virtually everyone, straight, gay, trans, whatever, would consider reprehensible.
I really don’t see what the big deal is about transgender. If I am secure in my gender identity, how is someone else being trans any threat to me? Granted, I am a libertarian so I don’t believe in laws forcing association, such as laws banning discrimination in the voluntary sector. But why the hatred? Was not Christ’s second commandment to love others? I remember a bumper sticker from many years ago in the heyday of the Moral Majority, it said “Hatred is NOT a family value!”
As far as God smiting someone for having an open mind, I would think if he was going to smite anyone, he would be more likely to smite someone who lied to him about being sure every word in the Bible is literally true, just because he thought he had to because someone else told him that it was, so he’d better get with the picture. There are myriad self-described “Christians” who adopt fundamentalism, not because it conforms to what’s actually in their mind and heart, but simply because someone told them they had to to avoid going to Hell. That mode of thought is dishonest, and leaves one open to be preyed upon by anyone who is an effective mind controller.
The entire world is deception, and each of us sees so little of what is actually true. Is it really such heresy to think that maybe God wants us to use the brain he’s given each of us?
The world did act against Iran but the US broke the deal. It’s not Iran that needs containing nor will it be taken on in a world war. It’s the US, the biggest terrorist rogue nation that has ever existed.
Good for Iran. The sooner, the better.
So we are giving the Iranians a choice of complying with the nuke deal without getting sanctions lifted and non-compliance without getting sanctions lifted. I mean, how can any rational acting country not see what a sweet deal Mr. Cholesterol is offering?
Did you purposely ignore Option #3? Agree to a stricter deal and get sanctions lifted.
There is no stricter deal the Iranians would agree to. And the US won’t accept anything less than Iran subjugation and Iran knows it. So there will be no deal. Either the US rejoins the JCPOA or Iran will pull out. If Trump really wanted negotiations and a new deal, he wouldn’t be pulling the crap he’s pulling.
Over the course of more than a decade, the US kept offering the Iranians deals, then backing out and adding ever stricter conditions whenever the Iranians agreed.
Then Obama finally took yes for an answer, and Iran held up its end of the bargain.
Then Trump violated the deal.
The burden is not on the Iranians to come back begging for another chance to get screwed with their pants on. It’s on the US government to abide by the deal it demanded and got.
Meanwhile in the real world, the weak country always bears the burden.
“the weak country always bears the burden.”
In a situation where there is a conflict, yes, there can be a loser. However, in a situation where there is cooperation, there needn’t be any losers. There is simply no valid reason there needs to be conflict between the US and Iran. Iran doesn’t need to bear the “burden” of demands put on it by the US, because those demands are unjustified and serve no useful purpose. The Iran nuclear deal guaranteed that Iran would not maintain its (nonexistent) nuclear weapons program. That is exactly why it was scrapped, because it eliminated any excuse for there to be conflict between the US and Iran.
“Then Trump violated the deal.”
It would appear to be the case that that is the desired result, never permanently agreeing to any deal, so as to justify war.
What Thomas Knapp said.
Trump is setting the stage for an attack on Iran, which will involve the Russians and will be everything his Christian Zionist base and Likudnik handlers are lusting for. Maybe the US military will say NO!
DJT does NOT want war with Iran, Thomas, it’s the Trotskyists aka Neocons who want it. DJT knows such a war would pull in both China and Russia .. Plus, it would destroy his chances of re-election next year.
Unbeknownst to the Trotskyists and their master (Israel), DJT has been negotiating with his counterpart (Hassan Rouhani) behind the scenes. He knows Iran has ruled out developing nukes (the Mullahs have ruled nukes as anathema to Islam). He’s only putting on a front, to keep the Trotskyists at bay.
DJT just wants to sanction them into ruin or until they capitulate to our every demand. And please, PLEASE give us folk that have been left out of the loop a link that tells us about those negotiations with Rouhani that you keep talking about.
DJT just wants to sanction them into ruin or until they capitulate to our every demand. And please, PLEASE give us folk that have been left out of the loop a link that tells us about those negotiations with Rouhani that you keep talking about.
You’re delusional. There is zero evidence Trump doesn’t want a war with Iran and there is zero evidence of any back-channel negotiations on his level of government (there may well be some at lower levels that he isn’t even aware of – but there is no evidence of that either.) The notion that the neocons wouldn’t know of his alleged negotiations is absurd. The only thing they may not know is his state of mind on any given day – which only makes manipulating this clueless Orange Mophead a little more difficult.
As I said elsewhere, Trump is probably vacillating between starting a war before the election and starting one after the election. You keep utterly ignoring what he might do after the election (assuming he is re-elected) which is only 12 months away.
And just because he *may* be concerned about a war before the election does *not* automatically translate into the notion that he doesn’t *want* a war. You keep ignoring his obvious enmity against Iran and *his* total support for Israel – not just the neocons support for Israel.
The notion that he’s just “putting on a front” to keep the neocons at bay is simply not supported by any evidence whatsoever. It’s a symptom of “Trump Savior Syndrome.”
Note: Not just the neocons, but the liberal interventionists who together with the former, make up the Deep State which consists of the Military/Intel/Media mongers.
Yes, I’m well aware.
You give DJT way too much credit. He’s in way over his head, and ‘critical thinking’ was never one of his strong suits.
You’ve also been saying that he’s been holding secret talks with Iran, for months now. I don’t think that’s true, partly because DJT would never tactfully keep his mouth shut, he needs positive affirmation for each and every action he himself personally undertakes .
Rand Paul is trying, he is an unofficial mediary. Nobody really can tell, this administration is extremely opportunistic and secretive. Entertaining Paul’s efforts is just a political equation, likely to stave off impeachment when every GOP Senate vote matters.
They’ve had far more “hate Trump” leaks by the Deep State than any other President ever./
Are you a follower of QAnon?
“He’s only putting on a front, to keep the Trotskyists at bay.”
Let me get this straight — Trump is murdering just so many innocent people so as to convince the “Trotskyites” that he’s actually one of them, which will reduce the total number murdered — is that what you’re suggesting?
Sorry Eileen, but if Trump is murdering any innocent people, and he is, he is not masterfully playing 6-D Chess, he IS one of them!
The US military can’t say no. It may push back against a war, but if Trump says go, they will go. As long as he has Zionists in his own family and neocons surrounding him and people in the State Department and the Pentagon who are either neocons or Zionists or simply profiteers from the military-industrial complex like the current Secretary of Defense who
was executive vice president at the Aerospace Industries Association in 2006 and 2007, he has zero chance of stopping the war – even if he wants to, which is problematic.
In my view, Trump is clueless, so he probably vacillates between worrying about a war messing up his re-election vs starting a war and getting a poll bounce as a “wartime President” to satisfy his enmity against Iran and his support for Israel. Which only means that once he gets re-elected – if he does – he has nothing to stop him starting a war and getting support as a wartime President.
The election is actually meaningless. He may be unlikely to start a war before then simply because as I’ve said before, the US and Israel have to take out Hezbollah first. There isn’t much time to do that before the election (although it could be started next summer if he decides to get a poll bounce), so starting the Iran war itself before the election is improbable. Which makes the concerns – and the excuses – about the election irrelevant – except for a possible war with Hezbollah.
The real issue is what will he do after the election, which is only 12 months away.
Wrong. Adm “Fox” Fallon, as Centcom CinC, told Bush the lesser that there would be no war with Iran on his watch. He also called Gen Petraeus an “ass licking little chicken shit”.
There was only one “Fox” and that was “the Desert Fox”.
And where is Fallon now? Get it?
Don’t count on it. The MIC thrives on wars.
If IRAN test’s a bomb, I am sure they will be getting some new visitors!
Looks like we’re getting what we wanted when we abrogated the Iranian Deal.
US does anything to please its Zionist master…!
Iran, a country determined to act in its own self-interest, moving along a clearly described and delineated path. The USA can’t stand for THAT!
“The USA can’t stand for THAT!”
Exactly. A “War on Terror” is just the excuse — the truth is that we are invading, bombing, and sanctioning countries which simply refuse to kowtow to our demands.
Preparing the “I was frightened for my safety” police rule for foreign policy enactment.
Yes, “Do unto others, before they do unto you.” This is one of the lamest ideas ever conceived, thinking that initiating aggressive violence is somehow going to reduce the level of violence directed at you. I just can’t fathom why so many people in power seem to spew such nonsense. Do they actually believe it, or is it just something they try to get the public to believe to cover for their actions?
poor pompous,hes working the hysteria overtime since moustache got fired. lol he needs to stop playing miliekowski’s tapes while he sleeps.
This United States has been the most deadly warmongering nation in the history of mankind, and even in its short existence of 243 years, America has been at war over 93% of the time. That is 226 years of war out of 243. This statistic is staggering, especially considering that virtually all U.S. wars, domestic and foreign, have been wars of aggression, and never for actual defense. This alone is reason for condemnation of the state, and reason for the American populace to finally awaken to the truth that this country is the world’s greatest terrorist threat to mankind.
–Gary Barnett (Nov 9, 2019)
“this country is the world’s greatest terrorist threat to mankind.”
Truth.