So Who Lost?

++Whether Congress can destroy a multilateral deal or not, the last few weeks have produced some losers.

++The neo-cons who were behind the Project for a New American Century lost big time. Remember Khatami had offered George W. a deal when Iran only had a few thousand centrifuges and he didn't take it. The Neo-cons have to argue war now without any pretexts of WMDs,nuclear programs, etc. You must wage war--just because. 

++The Man who said Saddam had centrifuges the size of washing machines--Bibi Netanyahu, took a powder. He said Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1996. Nada , then, nada now.

++But Bibi's burst on the scene to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress not only politicized the issue of Israel but now made it permissible to speak about the Israeli lobby and AIPAC in a more pointed way.

++I don't know whether you remember Ben Gurion but Bibi is no Ben Gurion. To me Bibi sounds like Baghdad Bob--"The Mother of all battles". And maybe we should treat him as another Middle Easterner with the same hyperbolic rhetoric.

++Those who want to bomb Iran have been placed into a tight corner. They must sabotage a peace deal and then convince the American people their way is the only right way.

++There are real threats to Israel's existence by a random remark from a general of the Bassij, a paramilitary unit in Iran, doesn't rank as serious. If Iran wanted to annihilate Israel, as they often have proclaimed, won't they first eliminate the Jews living in Iran?

++Hitler lost out because all Republicans say he got a worse deal than the Iranians.

++The Republican and Tehran Tom lost out because their letter made the Iranian response seem cool. I haven't seen Tehran look cool in decades. How do you do that?

++The Republican supporters that we are a hyper power look silly when you have a successful multinational negotiation. You will see this clash in the weeks ahead as Republicans will not fathom a multinational deal.

++The Palestinians won because their ascent to the ICC went unnoticed in Washington. 

++The relationship with Saudi Arabia will be strained but now the shoe is on the other foot. They need us more than we need them.

++Bibi's pyrotechnics finally broke the seal against writers mentioning Israel's nuclear capabilities. Now this is out in the open. Look to see this brought up anytime Bibi screams about this deal.

++Whether he can pull off a full deal,President Obama  has started people thinking there are alternatives to war and carnage. It is actually healthy that diplomacy sometimes works. 

++President Obama managed to rise again from the weeds and remind us that the United States can accomplish things when it sets its mind to it. I think that it quite nice.