The Rumble In The Desert

++The Times of Israel reports that the Saudis,Qatar, and other Gulf states oppose the nuclear deal with Tehran. I wonder how they know the purported agreement?

++Michael Oren, now running for the Knesset and former Ambassador to Israel, says the Obama Administration plans to boycott the AIPAC meeting is tantamount to boycotting "the strategic alliance with Israel". Interesting formulation about the relationship with AIPAC.

++Business Reporter has a piece by Armin Rosen on the details of the nuclear accord with diagrams. A good and very detailed piece with lots of technical data. Basically,he quotes scientists about why the alleged Accord may not be good.

++The Jerusalem Post allows Caroline Glick to run a hit job on President Obama, accusing him of being anti-semitic and the real enemy of Bibi Netanyahu.

++The head of the Iranian nuclear program is to meet with Secretary Munoz, the nuclear scientist who heads our Energy Department,in Geneva to discuss Tehran's program. Personnel from our Energy Department have regularly participated in the negotiations so far. Forget the politics involved,these are highly technical negotiations which none of us really know what they mean. For better or worse, the United States has enormous expertise in the area of nuclear weapons and energy.

++The Obama Administration is considering ways to amp up their conflict with Bibi over his speech. The Administration first floated the idea that the President flood the talk shows in discussing the negotiations. That was nixed. I would have nixed it too because you don't know whether you will have a successful deal yet. Instead there will be no high-ranking Administration officials attending AIPAC, which has a meeting right after Bibi's speech. Biden appears to be out of town again. Kerry will not be available. 

++Harold Meyerson in the Post earlier this week contemplated why Bibi is siding with the elements in our political culture the American Jewish community finds loathsome. Just purely from domestic policy,Meyerson finds that the current GOP is even farther from the attitudes and policy positions of the American Jewish community. There is a reason that the GOP has only one, lonely Jewish congressman. That the American jewish community voted by 80+% for Obama adds to the confusion why Bibi ignored the White House,Joe Biden, and John Kerry.

++Sheldon Adelson,one of Bibi's biggest backers, is a media mogul in Israel and through his free paper has launched attacks on Ynet once it editorialized against Bibi's speech and the damaging effects on US-Israeli relations.

++Interestingly, the CIA whistleblower case here in Alexandria, Virginia turns out to play a role in the IAEA's evaluation of whether they give Tehran a pass on not coming clean on their "old" bomb plans. This was the case where James Risen was supposed to testify and name his source. The whistle blower was convicted. What did he reveal? That the CIA under Bill Clinton did a sting on the Iranians to plant flawed nuclear bomb plans in Turkey for their spies to get. The IAEA believe the so-called "old" bomb plans of Iran are those provided through this sting.

++A WARNING SIGN ON THE IRANIAN NEGOTIATIONS. The March date is to come up with a framework for an agreement that would be finalized in June. John Kerry came up with a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinians but only saw it rejected by Bibi. That's why the Administration has floated the idea of releasing the Kerry framework agreement in response to Bibi's speech. They fear he will torpedo the framework agreement on the Iranian deal.