Arak, the heavy-water-moderated research reactor that the nuclear deal requires Iran to redesign.
Peter Beinart at
The Atlantic writes—
Why the Iran Deal Makes Obama's Critics So Angry:
As Congress begins debating the agreement, its opponents have three real alternatives. The first is to kill the deal, and the interim agreement that preceded it, and do nothing else, which means few restraints on Iran’s nuclear program. The second is war. But top American and Israeli officials have warned that military action against Iranian nuclear facilities could ignite a catastrophic regional conflict and would be ineffective, if not counterproductive, in delaying Iran’s path to the bomb. Meir Dagan, who oversaw the Iran file as head of Israel’s external spy agency, the Mossad, from 2002 to 2011, has said an attack “would mean regional war, and in that case you would have given Iran the best possible reason to continue the nuclear program.” Michael Hayden, who ran the CIA under George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009, has warned that an attack would “guarantee that which we are trying to prevent: an Iran that will spare nothing to build a nuclear weapon.”
Implicitly acknowledging this, most critics of the Iran deal propose a third alternative: increase sanctions in hopes of forcing Iran to make further concessions. But in the short term, the third alternative looks a lot like the first. Whatever its deficiencies, the Iran deal places limits on Iran’s nuclear program and enhances oversight of it. Walk away from the agreement in hopes of getting tougher restrictions and you’re guaranteeing, at least for the time being, that there are barely any restrictions on the program at all.
What’s more, even if Congress passes new sanctions, it’s quite likely that the overall economic pressure on Iran will go down, not up. Most major European and Asian countries have closer economic ties to Iran than does the United States, and thus more domestic pressure to resume them. These countries have abided by international sanctions against Iran, to varying degrees, because the Obama administration convinced their leaders that sanctions were a necessary prelude to a diplomatic deal. If U.S. officials reject a deal, Iran’s historic trading partners will not economically injure themselves indefinitely. Sanctions, declared Britain’s ambassador to the United States in May, have already reached “the high-water mark,” noting that “you would probably see more sanctions erosion” if nuclear talks fail. Germany’s ambassador added that, “If diplomacy fails, then the sanctions regime might unravel.”
The actual alternatives to a deal, in other words, are grim. Which is why critics discuss them as little as possible.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—Minnesota shutdown: Dayton conceding to most Republican demands:
Well, this sucks:
| At a speech at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota on Thursday, Gov. Mark Dayton announced that he is prepared to concede to most of the demands offered by Republican legislative leadership on June 30 in order to end the 14-day government shutdown. The Republican demands included a shift of $700 million in payments to public schools and borrowing another $700 million from the state’s tobacco settlement fund. Dayton will also drop his proposal to tax the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans. He excoriated Republicans for not offering any compromises during the shutdown. |
As much as it sucks, it's hard to blame Dayton, since he was faced with opponents who did not care how much pain they inflicted on the state, while he did and does care. He did have a few conditions, as well:
| Dayton added three conditions to his offer. First the Republicans must abide by their public statements that they will take all policy issues off the table. Second they must drop their arbitrary 15% across-the-board reduction to employees in all agencies, regardless of their funding source. Third, that after all the budget issues have been resolved in a special session, Republicans must support and pass a bonding bill in that session not less than $500 million to put people back to work throughout Minnesota. |
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show,
Greg Dworkin read the news today, so we let him tell us what's going on. Did lawmakers adjourn or recess in Maine? The LePage saga refuses to
sine die. For the first time in 35 years, diplomatic relations are renewed with Iran. Some rejoice, others do not. The Gop has no frontrunner. Hillary addresses the "gig economy." Pluto photobombs empty space. Meticulous record keeping finally forces Britain to address their own slavery problem, and solution. And, is George Will the canary in the coal mine? (Not that he'd ever work in a coal mine, mind you. He's just jumping on the
Lochner bandwagon.)
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