Deal with Iran

(Hello again)

It seems to me we have a choice to make we can have:

1) crippling sanctions on Iran that will cause them to drive forward with their bomb
-or-
2) a deal that lift the sanctions but precludes an Iranian bomb.

Iran is a nasty regime. That is not the issue. Maybe (or maybe not) this deal is far from perfect, but does anyone have a better idea? Going to war (again) would not work.

If we do nothing we are certain to have the Mullahs with a nuke. If we do this, it possible to prevent the nuke, and perhaps topple the regime.

Your thoughts?

It seems to me that Iran and the United States will always have mutual interests in the Middle East, since they are both always going to be scared of the thought of all the Arabs getting together. Working from that realpolitik beginning, I think most any deal has the potential to be a good deal.

Make the deal, make it work, the other option is Israel having to attack Iran as a preemptive strike which will go very badly for Israel and Iran. Probably cause massive world-wide recriminations against Israel despite semi-constant rhetoric of wishing to destroy Israel from Iran.

I had hope that maybe the world would have grown more mature by now, but I see no signs of it at all.

Iraq looks to have moved from being the local Middle East bogeyman to a slightly more stable state willing to bargain. Then again when you compare against the neighbours, they didn't have to shift at all to look more moderate in their outlook.

It would be nice to think they have become more diplomatic in their dealings, but only time will tell. However, most things that keep nuclear weapons off the table are a good thing. Otherwise you are likely to get US-sanctioned attacks by Israel designed to stop them.

I'm not crazy about it but the deal looks like the least-bad option under the circumstances. If a military strike would do any good, Israel would have carried one out years ago. I have confidence in the President and Secretary Kerry. If I were in the Senate I would, with some reluctance, vote to approve the deal.

Obama discussed the Iran deal informally on The Daily Show on July 21, and made a good case, I'd say: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-epis...--barack-obama

Here's NPR on the bass-ackwards way Congress will (probably) let the Iran nuclear deal go through. Political courage has always been a rare commodity: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpo...d-in-iran-deal