Thursday, January 9, 2020

PENS AND PHONES

Are bad things in the wrong hands, aren't they, Ketchup Boy?

President Trump says that on his watch, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. But if he had wanted to keep that promise, he should have left the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement in place. Instead, he pulled the United States out of the deal and pursued a reckless foreign policy that has put us on a path to armed conflict with Iran.
 
After Mr. Trump authorized the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani last week, Iran announced it was no longer obligated to follow the agreement, which had reined in its nuclear ambitions, and it launched ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops, to little effect. Adding to the turmoil, the Iraqi Parliament approved a largely symbolic resolution to expel American troops who have been fighting the Islamic State.
 
Though Mr. Trump has since walked back from the brink of war, I can’t explain the chaos of his presidency as it lurches from crisis to crisis, real or manufactured. The president has said he “doesn’t do exit strategies.” Clearly he doesn’t do strategies, period.
 
This moment was nothing if not foreseeable the moment Mr. Trump abandoned the 2015 agreement, which was working, and chose instead to isolate us from our allies, narrow our options in the region and slam shut the door to tackling additional issues with Iran through constructive diplomacy.
 
Tell yourself whatever you need to tell yourself to get through the day, Ketchup Boy.  But clearly the 2015 agreement wasn't working because if it was, Suleimani would still be in one piece.  This might have something to do with the fact that people like you consider "agreements" like this one to be vitally-important international accomplishments whereas people like the Iranians regard them as mere scraps of paper that will buy Washington off at least for a little while.
 
Grow the hell up.

UPDATE: The mullahs thank you for their line of defense, "American journalism."

UPDATE: Whatever you say, juice box.

3 comments:

Art Deco said...

Michael Kinsley once said that in official Washington, someones reputation will expand - like a gas - to fill whatever office he occupies.

In re Kerry, he managed to get elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984. He won the Democratic primary by a whisker in 1984; his selling point was his military service record, natch. In the history of popular elections to the Senate, the occasions on which a Democratic incumbent from Massachusetts has been voted out of office number precisely two. It was the same guy both times; he was, as northern Democrats go, a dissident who was swept away by Calvin Coolidge's coattails one year and by rumors of personal scandals another year. U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (D) is, in effect, a lifetime gig.

Kerry wasn't one to craft legislation; he was known for running investigations via subcommittee. His gig as Secretary of State was the first time he'd held an executive position which required he have a larger number of people working under him than you'd find on a Swift Boat crew. The Iran deal may not have been consequential, but it was the most obtrusive thing he's ever done apart from running for office.

You pump out the gas, and what you see is what's been there for 40-odd years: a mediocre Boston lawyer.

unreconstructed rebel said...

Upon close examination, his military service record is something of an embarrassment.

Art Deco said...

Upon close examination, his military service record is something of an embarrassment.

No, there are embarrassments incorporated within it. If he hadn't built his public persona on it (beginning with his obnoxious association with VVAW), it's exceedingly doubtful anyone would have taken much of an interest. And by 'anyone', I mean John O'Neill, the other members of the Swift Boat Veterans, Republican oppo researchers, among others. He's a combat veteran honorably discharged. Can't take that away from him. However, his decorations exaggerate his performance as a soldier and his peers and superiors did not respect him, for the most part, though it was a disrespect too amorphous to find its way into black-letter evaluations. None of that would have been salient if he hadn't been doing things like inveigling his boat-mates into campaigning for him.