War Is The Failure Of Diplomacy

Mr. Netanyahu has said it all before, and his only alternative to an agreement with Iran is still “lets you and Iran fight!” Mr. Netanyahu favors Republicans because he believes they'll get you and Iran into a fight! He will assure you it's for a good cause.  It's for the holey land, he'll say (not the holy land, and certainly not your land).  Only a medieval idiot would see this as a matter of faith.  Supporting Israel does not mean we have to join Netanyahu in an apocalyptic dance of spiraling tensions and escalating threats.  Stuff that!  Why should we reject success?  Sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table for a limited but important purpose.  Only a fool would think we can instantly resolve all of our differences with Iran and turn it into the model state we would like it to be.  Our goal is simply to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and thereby limit the threat nuclear weapons pose to the entire world.  This is not just geopolitics it is also survival politics, and it is where our focus must be!

I hear a pfft! Oh, there it is! It's emanating from an orifice attached to the Trumpster's ego. Donald Trump does not care whether he knows anything about Iran, he still wants to dominate the discussion. He is still the bloviating ignoramus George Will so aptly described. Which means we might get our clown show after all.

Unfortunately, the disingenuous criticism of the treaty by the feckless John Boehner and the bombastic howls coming from him are no laughing matter. Even doing nothing is powerful and consequential when you are Speaker of the House. What I find so frightening is that Mr. Boehner is giving the impression that he is trying to herd his truculent dumb asses in the wrong direction. God knows he can't lead them to reason. You can tell when he has tried that by the tread marks on his back. Still, the Congressional chamber must contain enough smart people to act in a responsible manner on special occasions. This is such an occasion and doing the responsible thing means following the traditional policy of leaving partisanship at the water's edge. So far the only thing Republicans have indicated a willingness to leave at the water's edge is the water they are trying to keep from landing on their shoes.

I know there will be people who will say I am offering a false choice, but I am not. Doing nothing means Iran will continue to develop a nuclear weapon. It is time get real, folks. There is no such thing as a perfect agreement. While no agreement may be better than a bad agreement, a workable agreement is a lot better than a bad war.