++President Obama was asked about Hillary Clinton's announcement and whether he advised her to run on his record. He said that she had been a formidable opponent in 2008,a great supporter in his election then, and then served as an extraordinary Secretary of State and she was his friend. He thought Hillary would be an excellent President.
++He was asked repeatedly about the Iran Deal. Reporters quoted the Supreme Leader as saying the United States was misrepresenting the deal and that sanctions had to be removed immediately.
++He answered that we have to wait until the final deal is agreed to before we can any judgments about whether it fulfills our practical goals of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear arm.
++He admitted that Bibi was against it but he did note that the same questions about this deal were raised about the interim agreement and that it was argued about and was implemented and it is agreed that Iran kept its side of the bargain. He said it was ironic that those same critics now want to keep the interim agreement.
++He blasted John McCain for saying that John Kerry,a Vietnam War hero and Secretary of State, was less trustworthy than the Supreme Leader, who McCain thinks is the enemy.
++He said this meant that politicization had gone way too far. He talked about Tehran Tom's letter to someone the GOP considers an enemy.
++He pointed out Mitch McConnell letter to the UN to ignore the commitments made by the United States on climate change.
++He talked about some of the initiatives at the Summit of the Americas.
++One reporter asked what he thought about Raul Castro's compliments about his as a person and whether he thought Raul was honest and trustworthy as Raul said about him. He avoided a direct response but said their two conversations and their meeting were candid and honest about the issues that divide them.
++Karen DeYoung went further with the Iran issue trying to portray the State Department's interpretation of the Iran Deal as set in stone. President Obama reiterated that many specifics had been worked out but there were certain elements which would require intense negotiation. He defended the State Department's interpretation.
++Karen DeYoung raised the 45 day waiting period after President Obama lifts the terrorist tag on Cuba. President Obama talked about the difficulty Cubans will have in accepting an American embassy and that we were used to re-establishing relations.
++He did say,"America is not into "regime change" with regards to Cuba",which is a dramatic change from the past.
Showing posts with label Iran deal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran deal. Show all posts
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Obama In Jamaica
++It is slightly embarrassing to see my typos and how the eyesight has deteriorated. It was "Jesus is on the Mainline,Call him up and tell him what you want."
+"No Woman, No Cry". Jamaicans were thrilled to welcome President Obama and made it clear so he knew it. President Obama had a midnight tour of the Bob Marley Museum and went to his house.
++Public polling by outside firms is starting in Cuba. God help them. President Obama stands at a 80% approval rating versus Raul at 47% and Fidel at 45%.
++President Obama headed to Panama and said that the United States enjoyed its best relationship with the hemisphere in decades. He largely credited this to his negotiations to normalize relations with Cuba. In polls,only Argentina has a negative opinion of the United States.
++Meanwhile the noise has gotten intense over the Iran deal. The Supreme Leader came out to say that the Framework Agreement wasn't valid because it is not signed. This sent the right nuts because it is sort of true. President Rouhani said all sanctions must be lifted on day one the agreement is signed. That is physically impossible and would hinder verification during the whole period. John Kerry said that Iran still has to explain the military phase of the early nuclear program. Iran said that their redline is the spot checks of military facilities.
++John Kerry is scheduled to re-open the embassy in Havana.
++President Obama is expected any day to remove Cuba from the terrorist state list.
++50 American Foreign Policy experts running from former Secretary of States, Dick Lugar, Sam Nunn, and others signed a letter telling the Senate to wait until the Iran negotiations are finished before acting on any more legislation.
+"No Woman, No Cry". Jamaicans were thrilled to welcome President Obama and made it clear so he knew it. President Obama had a midnight tour of the Bob Marley Museum and went to his house.
++Public polling by outside firms is starting in Cuba. God help them. President Obama stands at a 80% approval rating versus Raul at 47% and Fidel at 45%.
++President Obama headed to Panama and said that the United States enjoyed its best relationship with the hemisphere in decades. He largely credited this to his negotiations to normalize relations with Cuba. In polls,only Argentina has a negative opinion of the United States.
++Meanwhile the noise has gotten intense over the Iran deal. The Supreme Leader came out to say that the Framework Agreement wasn't valid because it is not signed. This sent the right nuts because it is sort of true. President Rouhani said all sanctions must be lifted on day one the agreement is signed. That is physically impossible and would hinder verification during the whole period. John Kerry said that Iran still has to explain the military phase of the early nuclear program. Iran said that their redline is the spot checks of military facilities.
++John Kerry is scheduled to re-open the embassy in Havana.
++President Obama is expected any day to remove Cuba from the terrorist state list.
++50 American Foreign Policy experts running from former Secretary of States, Dick Lugar, Sam Nunn, and others signed a letter telling the Senate to wait until the Iran negotiations are finished before acting on any more legislation.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Back from Jazz
++New York is disorienting as always Walked through Soho the first time in years and there were no longer ghosts of artists but every luxury good you could ever need or not want to buy.
++Did catch the Wisconsin game and wasn't disappointed by their upset. But, really,the announcers were saying it was one of the greatest quarter finals in history? Wisconsin was disciplined but played a great game in so far they won but "in history".
++I saw the Sunday talk shows and was disappointed in the coverage on the Iran deal. First, Bibi appeared to denounce it again and repeated some of his older lines from the 1990s. MSNBC had younger commentators, including reporters for the Nation and the Guardian, which was refreshing.
++But even if you are for the deal as three of the panelists were. It is not a bilateral agreement. It is negotiated with the major nuclear powers in the world and the two great economies. Sadly this agreement would have been better in 2003 which saw something called the "Letter of Tehran",an agreement between Iran and the EU. This agreement which would have held Iran as 1/3rd the number of centrifuges they retain under this agreement, didn't happen. Why? The West, including the US, reneged on their part of the deal.
++The only nuclear powers not included in this negotiations were Pakistan, India and Israel.
++I believe there will be an agreement emerged at the end of June. But the United States Congress will sabotage it. Then fast forward to a new administration and the war drums will beat--for what purpose? They will just make one up. We all forget Saddam agreed to leave power if he could retain a few billion for his retirement. We refused and we have and still are paying an enormous price.
++All of us have underestimated President Obama in his ability to get out of political jams. In this case, I wonder whether this is not Salt II again where Jimmy Carter made it into simply a nuclear agreement rather than a change in policy. Remember he was following on his Notre Dame speech where he said we needed fear Communism.
++On today's shows, General McCafferty reluctantly admitted this deal was about the best John Kerry--no other players--could get. But he also let slip that no military commanders believe either Israel or the United States or even both together can bomb out the nuclear sites.
++Supporters of the agreement note that Iran is stuck with the Atari version of centrifuges and these are so inefficient that even if they cheated, they couldn't produce enough uranium for a bomb.
++Former Iranian President Bani-Sadr writing in Huffington Post believes Iran should not sign this agreement because it is so one-sided against Iran and is insulting.
++President Obama's salespitch is that this isn't a Reagan "Trust but verify " type of deal. It is all verify with the most intrusive inspection regime ever.
++But the challenge will be whether the West will fund the inspections.
++Did catch the Wisconsin game and wasn't disappointed by their upset. But, really,the announcers were saying it was one of the greatest quarter finals in history? Wisconsin was disciplined but played a great game in so far they won but "in history".
++I saw the Sunday talk shows and was disappointed in the coverage on the Iran deal. First, Bibi appeared to denounce it again and repeated some of his older lines from the 1990s. MSNBC had younger commentators, including reporters for the Nation and the Guardian, which was refreshing.
++But even if you are for the deal as three of the panelists were. It is not a bilateral agreement. It is negotiated with the major nuclear powers in the world and the two great economies. Sadly this agreement would have been better in 2003 which saw something called the "Letter of Tehran",an agreement between Iran and the EU. This agreement which would have held Iran as 1/3rd the number of centrifuges they retain under this agreement, didn't happen. Why? The West, including the US, reneged on their part of the deal.
++The only nuclear powers not included in this negotiations were Pakistan, India and Israel.
++I believe there will be an agreement emerged at the end of June. But the United States Congress will sabotage it. Then fast forward to a new administration and the war drums will beat--for what purpose? They will just make one up. We all forget Saddam agreed to leave power if he could retain a few billion for his retirement. We refused and we have and still are paying an enormous price.
++All of us have underestimated President Obama in his ability to get out of political jams. In this case, I wonder whether this is not Salt II again where Jimmy Carter made it into simply a nuclear agreement rather than a change in policy. Remember he was following on his Notre Dame speech where he said we needed fear Communism.
++On today's shows, General McCafferty reluctantly admitted this deal was about the best John Kerry--no other players--could get. But he also let slip that no military commanders believe either Israel or the United States or even both together can bomb out the nuclear sites.
++Supporters of the agreement note that Iran is stuck with the Atari version of centrifuges and these are so inefficient that even if they cheated, they couldn't produce enough uranium for a bomb.
++Former Iranian President Bani-Sadr writing in Huffington Post believes Iran should not sign this agreement because it is so one-sided against Iran and is insulting.
++President Obama's salespitch is that this isn't a Reagan "Trust but verify " type of deal. It is all verify with the most intrusive inspection regime ever.
++But the challenge will be whether the West will fund the inspections.
Monday, December 2, 2013
This Morning's Leads
++The Supreme Court rejected Liberty University's challenge to Obamacare's individual mandate.
++SCOTUS also rejected Amazon's challenge to the New York State sales tax.
++George Will says Obama's next challenge will be Medicaid.
++The Post tells us Syria is Obama's Rwanda.
++The Post says that the Obama administration is trying to save the Iran deal, which is endangered not by Iran but the U.S. Senate.
++Brian Beutler in Salon says that all attempts to repeal Obamacare are dead. He argues that once January 1 comes,congresscritters will have to vote to take away health insurance from millions of people. Not the place you want to be politically.
++Bloomberg reports that 100,000 signed up on the website when it wasn't working right.
++Even Ezra Klein repeats the new meme that the website has serious "back end problems" connecting to insurance companies. But he like others expect that will be fixed pronto.
++The Texas GOP has their convention and they noted that the average age for their delegates was 58. Doesn't seem a young type.
++Former Senator Bob Smith, a very conservative Republican, has announced he is challenging Jeanne Shaheen for governor this year.
++It's official. This Congress will be the least productive in American history. It has only passed 80 laws. While Sweeney Todd and others of the corporate media have targeted Barack Obama for their criticism,the Congress only has nine days left to pass a raft of laws. One is the Farm Bill, which the Senate passed last year and the House has repeatedly delayed it. So not only will foodstamps be cut but milk prices could sky-rocket. The Pentagon budget hasn't passed either. While Patty Murray has been optimistic about a small budget deal,that depends on Congress playing the ping-pong it played during the shutdown. We face another shutdown because of time constraints.
++SCOTUS also rejected Amazon's challenge to the New York State sales tax.
++George Will says Obama's next challenge will be Medicaid.
++The Post tells us Syria is Obama's Rwanda.
++The Post says that the Obama administration is trying to save the Iran deal, which is endangered not by Iran but the U.S. Senate.
++Brian Beutler in Salon says that all attempts to repeal Obamacare are dead. He argues that once January 1 comes,congresscritters will have to vote to take away health insurance from millions of people. Not the place you want to be politically.
++Bloomberg reports that 100,000 signed up on the website when it wasn't working right.
++Even Ezra Klein repeats the new meme that the website has serious "back end problems" connecting to insurance companies. But he like others expect that will be fixed pronto.
++The Texas GOP has their convention and they noted that the average age for their delegates was 58. Doesn't seem a young type.
++Former Senator Bob Smith, a very conservative Republican, has announced he is challenging Jeanne Shaheen for governor this year.
++It's official. This Congress will be the least productive in American history. It has only passed 80 laws. While Sweeney Todd and others of the corporate media have targeted Barack Obama for their criticism,the Congress only has nine days left to pass a raft of laws. One is the Farm Bill, which the Senate passed last year and the House has repeatedly delayed it. So not only will foodstamps be cut but milk prices could sky-rocket. The Pentagon budget hasn't passed either. While Patty Murray has been optimistic about a small budget deal,that depends on Congress playing the ping-pong it played during the shutdown. We face another shutdown because of time constraints.
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