Right to Exist

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late last week that any deal with Iran regarding its nuclear weapons program must contain Iran’s explicit guarantee that Israel has the right to exist.

Our State Department has rejected that out of hand.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, in a terse response to a question about Netanyahu’s concerns, told reporters, “This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue”—a comment that indicates the Obama administration is not looking to enshrine Israel’s security into a final agreement.

“This is an agreement that doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it,”

How is a commitment to not use arms to destroy a nation not relevant to an arms control agreement?

Friends, Enemies, and Party Discipline

The Obama administration, through its Eric Holder DoJ, has decided to prosecute Senator Robert Menendez (D, NJ) on various charges of misbehavior, charges which the administration and the NLMSM have been bruiting about for roughly three years. Why bring the charges now? Because we’re in the end game of the Obama “negotiations” with Iran over the latter’s nuclear weapons program, and the deal being talked about will codify Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons. Menendez is a powerful Democrat, and he’s been a vocal critic of Obama and his Iran “negotiations.”

The attack on Menendez already has borne fruit: he’s stepped down from his position as Ranking Member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. This committee will have a strong input on pending legislation that will give Congress an oversight say on that pending deal with Iran (or force Obama’s veto of oversight of him and his actions); the prosecution and Menendez’ withdrawal from the committee dilute Democrats’ participation in that legislation.

On the other hand (just across the street, as it were), the Obama administration, through its Eric Holder DoJ, has declined to prosecute the administration’s IRS’ Lois Lerner on the contempt of Congress charges brought by Congress. Lerner is a friend of the administration; she’s the one who headed up the IRS’ attacks on conservative political organizations, “lost” emails regarding those attacks, and then refused to cooperate with Congress’ investigation.

I often say at this point, and I say now: this is the level of integrity of the Democratic Party; remember this in 2016.

Some might say, though, that there are honest Democrats in the party. For instance, isn’t Menendez, a target of Party persecution [sic] one such? Of course, there may well be. But where is their integrity when they associate themselves with a fundamentally dishonest organization? What does their silence on this sort of thing say about them?

Those honest Democrats in the Party can show themselves in one of two ways. One is to end their shameful silence, even in the face of the present Chicago-style Party discipline. The other, more powerful, way (especially since, honest or not, they’re badly tainted by their association with this Party) would be to leave the Democratic Party and form their own political party to compete against the Republicans and Democrats from a platform built explicitly on integrity.

Certainly, third parties generally don’t do well in American elections. The Republican Party began as a third party, and the Bull Moose Party was a third party with a powerful impact on our national elections. However, since then third party attempts since have failed (Nader’s and Perrot’s attempts, while famous, were ephemeral). The difference between those failures and the prior successes, though, is not an evolved political environment. The difference is that the lately third party attempts did not have established politicians as members or in their leadership, and aside from an ability to self-fund, they didn’t have the finances.

The honest members of the Democratic Party, however, both are well-known and established politicians, and they have effective and stable fund-raising capacity. A New Democracy Party, formed of these honest, now ex-, Democrats would be in an excellent position immediately to compete on the local and State level, and in just a few election cycles (see the Republican Party) to compete on the national level.

It’s not at all an insurmountable problem. If those honest Democrats are willing fight Party discipline and to show themselves.

Remember this, too, in 2016.

Obama’s Iran Nuclear Weapons Deal

Here’s a “fact sheet” on the thing, via The Washington Post. In quotes because Iran considers the thing to be so much spin, and they don’t agree to it. Some highlights below, with my interpretation in italics.

  • Iran has agreed to reduce by approximately two-thirds its installed centrifuges. Iran will go from having about 19,000 installed today to 6,104 installed under the deal, with only 5,060 of these enriching uranium for 10 years. All 6,104 centrifuges will be IR-1s, Iran’s first-generation centrifuge. Iran will go on enriching uranium, just at an allegedly slower pace.
  • Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium over 3.67% for at least 15 years. See below regarding verification
  • Iran has agreed to not build any new facilities for the purpose of enriching uranium for 15 years. Iran agreed to this years ago, too; Fordo was only recently discovered, after it had been in operation for several years.
  • Iran has agreed to convert its Fordow facility so that it is used for peaceful purposes only—into a nuclear, physics, technology, research center. As a research center, it’ll continue to be used for nuclear weapons research.
  • Iran has agreed to not conduct research and development associated with uranium enrichment at Fordow for 15 years. See the bit about verification.
  • The IAEA will have regular access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, including to Iran’s enrichment facility at Natanz and its former enrichment facility at Fordow, and including the use of the most up-to-date, modern monitoring technologies. “Regular access:” on notice, with plenty of time to “get ready” for the inspection. “All of Iran’s…facilities:” that they’ve revealed.
  • S. and E.U. nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps. A prompt end to sanctions after IAEA is promptly fooled. See verification above.

There’s nothing in this framework that prevents Iran from developing and building nuclear weapons. Maybe—maybe—this slows them down a little bit.

The community organizer and the motorboat skipper got played by the JayVee’s coach.

Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Deal

President Barack Obama says that any agreed deal would increase the time needed by Iran to get sufficient weapons grade uranium sufficient to start building bombs out to a year or more.

That, though, means that Iran will be allowed to build nuclear bombs. Obama plainly knows this.

And it’s a far cry from not allowing this terrorist-sponsoring state, this polity with its core goal of wiping Israel from the map, to obtain nuclear weapons. About four of which would be sufficient to destroy Israel, not just as a nation, but as a society.

And Obama drags out the “negotiations” past yet another ObamaDeadline.

The Arrogance of Obama

It’s breathtaking scope is made manifest in his “negotiations” with Congress on the matter of his “negotiations” with Iran over the latter’s nuclear weapons program.

“We’re open to talking to Congress about what they might do, how they might be heard on the Iran deal and how they might play an oversight role,” a senior Obama administration official said. “Some people in Congress will certainly want to take some vote.”

Awfully decent of Obama to be willing to seem to consider allowing Congress to do its Constitutional job.

Congress has mandated roles to play in international agreements; it’s required to play them. Congress, in the person of the Senate, must formally, and positively, approve any international agreement or that agreement is unenforceable and functionally nonbinding—it’s only a Presidential agreement. Congress must fund the agreement or it cannot have effect.

Of course, Obama knows this, hence the arrogance of his minion’s statement.

There’s nothing to discuss here. Congress must take the steps it must take, and it must stop wasting time on Obama’s idle chit-chat with it. Disapprove the issue of the current “negotiations” with Iran as the carefully leaked details of that describe it. Pass severe sanctions on the Iranian régime and on Iran when the “negotiations” fail, as will be the case even should the current outline be accepted by the Obama administration and the mullahs. Pass them again over Obama’s veto. There’s nothing here to discuss with him.