Thursday, March 12, 2015

Corker Demands Obama Not Take Iranian Agreement to The United Nations

++Earlier I wrote that the UN Security Council is talking about lifting the Iranian sanctions if a deal in concluded.

++The State Department has been evasive, saying the United States is searching for a non-legally binding agreement. 

++Senator Corker is demanding the Obama Administration answer his question about whether he is going to go to the Security Council rather than to the Senate.

++The Times of Israel informs us that this has been one of the top three things on AIPAC's agenda. They said that AIPAC had over 500 meetings on this on the Hill.

++I suggest the Obama Administration come flat out and make it clear that the negotiating partners are the permanent members of the Security Council for a very practical reason.

++This confusion is deliberately being stoked by the right, who are committed to unilateralism anyway. 

++Today, MJ Rosenberg, who used to be the legislative assistant for AIPAC, wrote a piece for Huffington Post that said that Bibi's speech fundamentally altered the relationship between Israel and the United States. In another forum, he said that Tehran Tom Cotton's letter could only have been sent with so many sponsors if it had been endorsed at least by AIPAC.

++Cotton himself received nearly $1 million from Bill Kristol's Emergency Committee for Israel,Paul Singer's SuperPac and Sheldon Adelson. 

++While suspicions originally fell on Bill Kristol for the Cotton letter because of its dreadful failure and lack of political smarts,with Rosenberg's statement it really moves to Israeli ambassador Dermer because of its confused and false assertions about the constitutional role of the Senate to ratify the agreement. Even AIPAC isn't that stupid. 

++Observers have noted that Boehner and McConnell probably colluded in a Bibi-Cotton letter--1-2 punch attack on President Obama.

++It's clear the signatories didn't fully realize the implications of the Letter. Rand Paul tried to weasel out of it by saying it gave Obama more backing in the negotiations. It did no such thing. 

++It was so clumsy that it probably wrecked Corker's plan to wreck the plan by getting a 2/3rds veto proof resolution against Obama. Corker's resolution had the winning charm of playing to the Senators' egos by asserting their right to OK a deal.

++It was very clear from Kerry's testimony that the Cotton letter was easily torn apart. But the Senate's assertion for approval is going to be tougher to sell. Luckily Tehran Tom misplayed his hand.

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