As Iran stalls for time, NY Times calls on Obama to manage Israel's enmity
This seemingly reasonable outlook — refreshing after the ugly, confrontational approach of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — has been reinforced by other recent moves. The most significant is Mr. Rouhani’s appointment of Mohammad Javad Zarif as foreign minister. In addition to being educated in the United States and serving many years as Iran’s ambassador at the United Nations, Mr. Zarif has been at the center of several rounds of secret negotiations over the years to try to overcome decades of enmity between the two countries.
Mr. Zarif is also being considered to lead a new round of nuclear negotiations with the major powers, replacing the conservative Saeed Jalili, who made things worse when he was in that job. At his first news conference, President Rouhani parried questions about possible direct talks with Washington — which will be essential at some point for any deal to be concluded — but said he was ready to “seriously engage and interact with other parties.”
...
President Rouhani is sending strong signals that he will dispatch a pragmatic, experienced team to the table when negotiations resume, possibly next month. That’s when we should begin to see answers to key questions: How much time and creative thinking are he and President Obama willing to invest in a negotiated solution, the only rational outcome? How much political risk are they willing to take, which for Mr. Obama must include managing the enmity that Israel and many members of Congress feel toward Iran?
And finally: Do the two sides have the courage to resolve a conflict that has been decades in the making?
The Times is living in a dream world where Rouhani is suddenly going to open all of Iran's nuclear facilities to unfettered international inspection and commit never to use nuclear energy for anything non-peaceful. That's a pipe dream. It assumes that Rouhani, who was Iran's nuclear negotiator when the great stall began, is suddenly going to abandon the program. And it assumes that Rouhani has control over Iran's nuclear program, which he does not. He's Ayatollah Khameni's chosen President and will do what the Ayatollah tells him to do.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Ayatollah Ali Khameni, Barack Hussein Obama, Hassan Rohani, Iranian nuclear threat, New York Times
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:45 PM
1 Comments:
Politico ran an article blaming Israel for Obama's lack of any response on Syria.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/israel-lobby-silent-on-syria-95964.html?hp=f1
That's right, it's the Jews fault.
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