Monday, November 18, 2013

France and Israel Reject Obama's Amateurish Deal-making with Iran

The Jerusalem Post reported today that in the view of the Israeli government, it’s vocal objections to the proposed interim nuclear deal being considered by Iran and western powers is having a positive effect on the parameters of any future agreement. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who is currently in the United States to lobby pro-Israel supporters on the need for a more robust approach toward the Iranian regime, told Army Radio on Monday that “Israeli opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran is beginning to bear fruit....We want a good deal.” Bennett said. “The state of Israel’s goal is to get to an agreement that dismantles Iran’s nuclear machine, and not a deal that simply pushes the pause button for a few months.” French President Francois Hollande, who is in Israel for a three-day visit, spoke before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and was very much on Israel's side, affirming that France would not surrender to nuclear proliferation and would stand firm by its demands before consenting to an interim agreement. As French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who singlehandedly halted the US-Iran march toward a nuclear deal earlier this month in Geneva looked on, Hollande told the Knesset that France is not convinced that Teheran has "definitively renounced" its alleged nuclear weapons program, declaring : "I confirm here that we will maintain the sanctions as long as we are not certain that Iran has definitively and irreversibly renounced its military program to obtain nuclear weapons....France will not let Iran arm itself with nuclear weapons," the French President promised to general Knesset applause. Since arriving in Israel on Sunday, Hollande has constantly reassured Israel of France's determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Israel and the West have long accused Iran of engaging in a program to give it nuclear weapon capability, allegations denied by Teheran, which insists its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes. "Everything must be done to resolve this crisis," Hollande told the Knesset, saying the P5+1 group of world powers had made "credible and solid proposals" in negotiations with Iran in Geneva. Hollande was firm : "Now it is up to Iran to respond, not just with words nor with vague promises - no. By concrete and verifiable steps." Israel itself has vociferously criticized the proposed interim agreement, warning that it offers Iran the 'deal of the century.' "I'm concerned, gravely concerned, that this deal will go through and in one stroke of the pen it will reduce the sanctions on Iran - sanctions that took years to put in place - and in return for this, Iran gives practically nothing," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a joint news conference with Hollande on Sunday. Netanyahu had earlier made the same warning on a CNN Sunday news program telecast in the US. At a Jerusalem press conference, President Hollande spelled out precisely what conditions France would demand in any Iran nuclear deal : (1) all Iran’s nuclear installations be placed under international controls, (2) the suspension of all uranium enrichment to 20 percent, (3) the reduction of existing stockpiles of enriched uranium, and (4) a complete halt to the construction of the heavy water reactor at Arak. “These are four points fundamental for an agreement to be reached,” Hollande said. ~~~~~ As if to drive home Israeli determination to prevent Iran's acquiring a nuclear weapon, former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said Sunday that Israel has the ability to strike Iran, and is willing to do so alone. Amidror, in a Financial Times interview clearly timed to send a message to the world, said Israel could halt Iran’s nuclear capability “for a very long time,” and that the air force has conducted “very long-range flights... all around the world” in preparation. “We are not the United States of America, of course,” Amidror said, “but we have enough to stop the Iranians for a very long time. We are not bluffing. We are very serious - preparing ourselves for the possibility that Israel will have to defend itself by itself.” Asked how Israel would respond if Hezbollah retaliated by firing missiles and rockets at Israel, Amidror said the government would be ready to “use ground forces to go into the urban centers and to deal with the people who are launching the rockets, and to destroy the rockets and launchers." Experts have said that the proposed agreement, if reneged on, would allow Iran to restart its progam and build a nuclear weapon in less than 6 months. However, if Israel took out Iranian facilities, it would require 3 years to rebuild them and make a nuclear weapon. ~~~~~ Meanwhile, in a move obviously meant as a sabre-rattle before this week's Geneva negotiations and to undercut the French stand in Jerusalem, Iran unveiled a new aircraft Monday that it says is the biggest drone it has yet developed, capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours, according to Iran Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, who said the reconnaissance and combat drone Fotros has a range of 1,250 miles. That would cover much of the Middle East including Israel. "This drone is able to carry out reconnaissance missions and carry air-to-surface rockets for combat operations," the official IRNA news agency quoted Dehghan as saying. Iran claims that it managed to reverse-engineer the American RQ-170 Sentinel, which it seized in December 2011 after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern border with Afghanistan, and that it is capable of launching its own production line for the unmanned aircraft. The existence of the new drone cannot be independently confirmed, however, and experts say a picture of the alleged Fotros published by Iran's IRNA news agency on Monday looked similar to another Iranian drone unveiled last year. It wasn't immediately clear whether the Fotros was an entirely new model, or an upgraded version of the earlier Shahed-129, reported to have a similar range to the Fotros, but which can only stay aloft 24 hours. Dehghan called the new drone a key strategic addition to Iran's military capabilities, developed despite tough sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program : "Sanctions by enemies can't create an obstacle in the path of progress for our defense industries," IRNA quoted him as saying, in what was undoubtedly an effort to appease the Iranian hardliners opposed to any nuclear agreement. Iran's move to unveil the Fotros on Monday came just days before the reconvening of ongoing negotiations between the Iran and the international community aimed at ending a long-term standoff over the allegations of weapons development by means of a diplomatic breakthrough. ~~~~~ Dear readers, French President Hollande's remarks, made two days before the start of the next round of talks in Geneva aimed at rolling back Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, will add to the already-considerable difficulties faced by US President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, who insist that France is united with the US in its effort to get an Iran nuclear deal. What is becoming clear is that France, and possibly the UK and Germany, are no longer willing to trust US President Obama to decide for them about Iranian good faith in the nuclear negotiation. They are independently seeking assurances that will protect Europe, along with Israel and other Middle East states, from possible Iranian treachery. As Benjamin Netanyahu said to America yesterday, when the Arab world and Israel agree on any issue, the world - and Barack Obama - should listen, because these countries live with and understand Iran and their insights are valuable. If Mr. Obama refuses to accept sage advice, one other thing seems clear. The US Congress has had enough of Obama's amateurism and will not let Iran slip through the net to become a member of the nuclear club.

6 comments:

  1. It doesn't seem like France is untied with the USA and Preident Obama over anything that involves Iran, the sanctions presently in place aganist them, or the direction of stopping Iran's nuclear policies.

    Seems France wants deeds and Obama wants lies ... Wonder why that's what he wants?

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    1. It takes an exceptional human being, a person of strong character, conviction and purpose to go through the mud in fixing someone else’s chaos because inevitably you'll be blemished by some of the mess and the misfortune to fix it.

      Obama saw a perfect storm that would get him into the presidency and he went for it. Hope and change is all we had to look forward to. But as we've seen, Obama is no exceptional human being. Obama's focus was his legacy in making a historic piece of legislation, not steering the country in a restarting direction. To leave his mark and go for glory, he had to gamble and gamble on high risks. That meant knowingly telling a gigantic lie to manipulate public opinion.

      He cannot be trusted simply because he now has the highest position of power in the world. Obama has shown that he does not have the character for it. Incontestable leadership has to be guided by straightforward trustworthiness.

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  2. How can the United States have "the self proclaimed smartest man in the world " (by his wife's proclamations how) and he doesn't see the error in is actions in regards to the Middle East and the great danger that he places Israel in.

    Israel is a militarily strong country who has on numerous occasions defended itself against many Middle Eastern Islamic countries concurrently and within a matter if days repelling their aggressors.

    But the advent of moderne weaponry may invalidate that ever happening again. As long as there are "freemen" with a sense of responsibility and knowledge of the needs of sustaining freedom Israel will always have someone like France at their assistance.

    It's demoralizing that the United States has completely and morally withdrawn from its duty.

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  3. Let's see, Israel did not attack us on 9/11. Israel does not provide weapons and money to international terrorists. Israel did not extort the West for decades through OPEC pricing and production controls. Israel has not sworn a holy war against every religion except Islam. Israel is a democracy. Muslims have been elected and hold seats in its Knesset. Israel enjoys more freedom of speech than any other country in the Middle East, and ranks right up there with the free press of the world. Israel is the world's third largest recipient of foreign direct investment and is a primary R&D center for Intel, National, Cisco, and many others. If it's neighbors were not constantly threatening to annihilate it; it would go on about its business and not bother anyone else.

    If the rest of the Middle East squandering nations would get into the 21st century, become positive contributors to the world, just maybe they would be too busy being successful they wouldn't have time for this "jihad" that has gone on for the past 2000 years.

    "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result"

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  4. The main question in the Middle East is the existence of Israel. Every morning when the radical Islamic leaders get up and see that Israel is still there it is the driving force that they use to justify that days vile and vicious treatment of their own present day Islam followers.

    Democracy by western standards is simply out of reach in the Islamic world. But the purge of the actions that leads to the daily car bombings and various other methods of accomplishment that the radicle arm of Islam is an absolute necessity.

    That fact Israel exists because of America is an Arab delusion. The fact is Arabs have not yet progressed out of the early Iron Age. Socially, they are stuck in the 7th century AD. Islam was in most respects a superior social system for the 7th century AD. It has not evolved to keep up with Western civilization.

    The West (including Israel) has the ability to exterminate Muslims; to destroy Islam to the last men. To leave no two mud/straw bricks standing. We won't because Western civilization has evolved beyond the point of seeing Genocide as a solution.

    Israel is NOT the 800lb gorilla in the room; it is the 800 lb scapegoat. Long before the re-establishment of Israel there have been those who have been willing to spread Islam outside of their borders. Israel is a scapegoat that modern Islamic rulers, leaders, scholars et al use to a) justify violence expansion and b) distract others from the devastating results of their leadership. Before Islam it was Dar al_Harb and so on.


    Like it or not the Western world cannot leave the Middle East in the present configuration. Radical Islamic must be dismantled if there is any hope for the citizens of Egypt, Iran, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and various other countries. The religious differences between Shiite and Sunni’s will always be there … that’s a individual choice. But death and devastation is not the answer … but it will not cease on its own merits.

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  5. How can the very same problems that exists with Iran, Libya, and Syria be so crystal clear to France and Israel - and so very confusing to the United States of America.

    How can Obama not see the errors of his game playing and lying.

    This is not about "legacies" and historical ratings. It's about doing what needs done NOW.

    There is a military saying that goes "Is this the mountain you wish to die on today?" Seems it is for President Obama, because he just keeps on keeping on with his distortions of the truth.

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