Hassan Rouhani – The Optimistic Conservative

Empire: The Iran edition

History returns.

Khamenei, with combat mosque, broods over Baghdad's Tahrir Square, Mar 2015. (Image: AFP, Ahmad al-Rubaye, via IBTimes) — Khamenei, with combat mosque, broods over Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, Mar 2015. (Image: AFP, Ahmad al-Rubaye, via IBTimes)

New post up at Liberty Unyielding. Enjoy!

BREAKING: Has Ayatollah Khamenei died?

Interesting times.

New post up at Liberty Unyielding. Enjoy!

Expert: Team Obama ‘doesn’t understand’ terms of its own Iran deal

Peace in our time.

Here’s one I never expected to hear about a presidential administration negotiating America’s national security issues:

Nuclear expert Gregory Jones expressed concern that the administration “does not fully understand” the deal it signed [with Iran].

This will be short. But Continue reading “Expert: Team Obama ‘doesn’t understand’ terms of its own Iran deal”

Taqiyya and Hudaybiyyah: The non-deal Iran “deal,” Week 5

“Treaty,” they lied.

When we left our story last time, Iran hadn’t agreed to anything except further negotiation (if she felt like it), but Western governments were depicting this as a “deal” or “agreement” with Iran, and well-meaning media pundits were proclaiming that “it” would have to be given time to work.

The question remains what “it” is supposed to be, considering that the Iranians persist in emphasizing their intention to continue uranium enrichment: the irreducible point of contention for an actual deal – a “deal” deal, if you will – to render the Iranian nuclear program less easily weaponizable.

But even if we set that question aside, the problem remains Continue reading “Taqiyya and Hudaybiyyah: The non-deal Iran “deal,” Week 5”

The deal that will launch a thousand attack sorties? (Part 1)

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad deal.

This is Part 1 of a two-part post. Part 2 is here.

It’s hard to overstate the concern with which we should view the nuclear “deal” concluded with Iran on Saturday, 23 November. Although everyone will wait, there is actually nothing to wait for with this deal: nothing to watch develop. To say “We’ll see what happens,” in terms of Iran’s compliance, is to misunderstand. As regards what matters to acquiring a nuclear weapon, Iran won’t change anything she’s been doing.* She may (or may not) put off further some things she had already suspended, or had announced she was going to delay anyway. But her program will not actually take a step backward. It’s not even guaranteed Continue reading “The deal that will launch a thousand attack sorties? (Part 1)”