Posted by mancinblack on Wed, 09 May 2018 20:27 | #

The Israeli press are quoting the US deputy assistant secretary for Iran and Iraq, Andrew Peek, as saying “Throughout the entire process in recent months and particularly in the past two weeks, we consulted with Israel and we wanted to make sure we coordinate closely with them”.

Peek added that the US would be “pushing and asking and cajoling” Britain, France, Germany, China and even Russia to disinvest from Iran and would “wind down” sanctions waivers. The US would work with Britain, France and Germany to reach a new deal “that addresses not just the nuclear issues of Iran but the regional issues, the support for terrorism, the proliferation of missiles and others” .

Bibi hasn’t told Trump what the “others” are yet, it seems. I’m not sure if Britain, France and Germany are actually aware that they are expected to help come up with a new deal to replace the one they are publicly standing by. Even if they were willing the last one took years to put together. Five percent of the EU’s oil comes from Iran. French companies such as Peugeot and Renault have invested in Iran since 2015 etc. It’s to be hoped that the Anglo-French and German axis holds firm on this one. They will have allies. Japan and South Korea are major importers of Iranian crude.

As for Russia, Putin couldn’t have scripted this mess better himself.

The US has probably taken a rather long stride towards military action against Iran. If that’s what happens then the Alt-Right shouldn’t be allowed to play the victim card. After working online for free to get Trump elected, the Alt-Right are complicit in everything he does.

Posted by Senator Black on Fri, 11 May 2018 00:51 | #

Naive about Putin and Russia, but informative about Israel and other foreign policy foibles of Trump.

Posted by mancinblack on Fri, 11 May 2018 19:54 | #

When you’ve moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, marginalized the Palestinians, erased the phrase “occupied territory” from the State Department’s annual report and pulled out of the Iran deal - even though you spend all your time on Twitter ; then getting something like this in (almost) under the radar is easy..

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/trump-white-house-quietly-cancels-nasa-research-verifying-greenhouse-gas-cuts

“The topic of climate mitigation and carbon monitoring is maybe not the highest priority now in the United States but it is almost everywhere else” - George Hurtt, who leads NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System research line.

Trump doesn’t care about almost everywhere else. For him it’s all about MAGA _ Making Assholes Grow Affluent. Those tax cuts have to be paid for from somewhere.

Posted by Shlomo Gordon on Sun, 14 Oct 2018 11:09 | #

Posted by The Victims of Iran Sanctions on Mon, 19 Nov 2018 19:08 | #

The American Conservative, “The Victims of Iran Sanctions”, 2018:

Trump speaks at Washington rally against the Iran deal back in September 2015.
Credit: Olivier Douliery/Sipa USA/Newscom

Iranians’ access to medicine is being choked off by the Trump administration’s illegitimate reimposition of sanctions:

The number of European and Iranian banks conducting such transactions has dwindled, observers say. The refusal to process payments has alarmed Iranian importers. Some say they fear transactions with outside banks could cease altogether, prompting shortages of vital goods, including medicine.

“You just don’t know when other parties are going to be added or targeted. What was true yesterday may not be true this afternoon,” said Alan Enslen, an international trade lawyer at Baker Donelson in Washington, explaining how companies are weighing the risks.

When even reputable private banks such as Parsian Bank have been designated by the Trump administration, there is tremendous uncertainty about whether doing any business in Iran will be safe for European and other foreign companies. Most firms are going to avoid the risk, and that inevitably means that ordinary Iranians will lose access to vital imported goods or those goods will become prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of people that need them. The sanctions not only affect transactions for bringing in imported medicine, but they can also prevent the import of raw materials that Iran’s own pharmaceuticals need to make medicine. The result is that a great many sick people who were previously able to get the medicine they needed will be cut off from their treatment. The administration hides behind its formal exemption of humanitarian goods while implementing a policy that deprives people of those same goods. Iran hawks want to inflict pain on the population, but they don’t want to be held responsible for causing that pain.

Iranian cancer patients are being especially hard hit by the effects of sanctions. Doctors from the MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center in Tehran wrote in to The Lancet to warn about the shortages of essential medicine that will threaten the lives of their patients:

Re-establishment of sanctions, scarcity of drugs due to the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to deal with Iran, and a tremendous increase in oncology drug prices (due to the plummeting value of the Iranian rial by 50–70%), will inevitably lead to a decrease in survival of children with cancer.

Here the mother of a child with cancer condemns the policy:

Children battling cancer are an unintended victim of American sanctions on Iran said one mother who made an impassioned plea for US President Donald Trump to ease her and her son’s suffering.

“Maybe I have the financial support to travel to neighbouring countries in order to provide medication, but what about other ordinary people? They are losing their child in front of their eyes. What about supporting human rights? A lot of people are saying human rights, so where is it? There is no support for human rights, it is just a claim,” said Maryam Haghverdilo.

The Trump administration claims that it wants to change Iranian regime behavior by forcing Tehran to agree to twelve unrealistic, maximalist demands, but there is no reason to think that the Iranian government will bow to these demands. Iranian officials remain adamant that they will make no changes because of the sanctions:

Iran’s deputy foreign minister has told a Spanish newspaper that his country will not change its policies in the face of United States sanctions, IRNA reported.

Sanctions rarely succeed in changing the behavior of the targeted government, but they are quite effective in causing hardship and misery for the civilian population. The Trump administration isn’t going to force the Iranian government to capitulate, but it is going to shorten the lives of many Iranians by strangling their economy and depriving them of the medicines they need.

Posted by Europe looking to skirt Iran sanctions on Thu, 31 Jan 2019 15:21 | #

Reuters, “Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran”, 31 Jan 2019:

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - France, Germany and Britain have set up a mechanism for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions, although diplomats acknowledge it is unlikely to free up the big transactions that Tehran says it needs to keep a nuclear deal afloat.

Posted by Tulsi Gabbard on Sun, 30 Jun 2019 05:02 | #

Tulsi Gabbard sounds off on ‘clear bias’ during her debate

Everything Tulsi Gabbard Said During the First Democratic Debate | NBC New York

Posted by Avi Berkowitz on Mon, 09 Sep 2019 06:06 | #

The Theology of Jared Kushner & Avi Berkowitz | Middle East Peace Deal Update

Posted by The White House Plan to Strangle Iran on Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:56 | #

The White House Plan to Strangle Iran

http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/the-white-house-plan-to-strangle-iran/

Posted by Top Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 12:02 | #

Israel Blamed! Iran Vows to Avenge Assassination of Nuclear Scientist

Posted by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 12:04 | #

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_qaqRknlns

Posted by Al Ross on Mon, 30 Nov 2020 07:13 | #

I care as much about Iranians and Israelis as they care about each other ,  not to mention White people .

Reciprocity is a time - honoured principle which should govern relations between races . I like Muslims and Jews as much as they like my racial group. That should leave no room for doubt.