Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 2
Trump or Bush isn't in the White House so the Zionist Liberals will be fine.
On TMF....everytime Israel slapped the Palestinians, Liberals would whine.
As usual, the Righties get used.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Hamas is literally running around in pickup trucks shooting Israeli civilians in their homes. The videos are something like the '80s Chuck Norris movie Invasion U.S.A..
No. of Recommendations: 3
Given the support that democrats have for enabling Iran (for those who want to deny that witness Biden and Obama's constant coddling of and material support for the mullahas) it's hard to escape the conclusion that the Obama/Biden teams are full of raving anti-semites. There's no other logical explanation.
No. of Recommendations: 2
"Hamas is literally running around in pickup trucks shooting Israeli civilians in their homes."
Unlike the Israelis who use full military troops to move 'settlers' into Palestinian homes...
No. of Recommendations: 4
To set the record straight on President Biden's unwavering support for Israel, and his previous warnings to Iran, here are the facts.
1. Biden called Netanyahu today and told him that "we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel. Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people. The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.
And my Administration's support for Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering".
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/al-aqsa-s...2. In July of this year, Biden told Netanyahu "we are committed as well to ensure that
Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, so we have a lot to talk about."
In March of this year, in response to Iran trying to make nuclear weapons, Biden said "And make no mistake: The United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people.'
https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2023/jan/23/comme...3. Ok, now let's talk about the $6 billion transferred to humanitarian organizations in Iran by the Biden administration. That $6B was money that the US owed to Iran anyway for US purchases of Iranian oil. But that money had been frozen by the Trump administration when he decided to leave the Iran nuclear accord.
Biden decided to unfreeze the money to secure the release of 5 US prisoners held in Iran. The money was supposed to be monitored to make sure it was used for humanitarian purposes such as food, medicines, etc. I do agree that this money could have fallen into the wrong hands, but we don't know that for a fact yet.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/us-i....
No. of Recommendations: 14
mechinv:
Biden decided to unfreeze the money to secure the release of 5 US prisoners held in Iran. The money was supposed to be monitored to make sure it was used for humanitarian purposes such as food, medicines, etc. I do agree that this money could have fallen into the wrong hands...Okay. I wanted to stay out of this conversation but since Dope1 is accusing others of having "a 3rd grader's knowledge of politics and world events" and incorrect information about the "$6 billion transferred to humanitarian organizations in Iran" has entered into the conversation, please note: confirmed earlier today by a National Security Council Spokesperson, not a single cent from those funds has been spent yet, and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people or the funds will be frozen again.
mechinv:
That $6B was money that the US owed to Iran anyway for US purchases of Iranian oil.No. The funds were payment for South Korean purchases of Iranian energy products, primarily condensate, and have sat idle in two South Korean banks. In theory, Iran should have been able to use that money for humanitarian purchases all along. But in practice, the money was inaccessible because the Korean government and banks were concerned about violating U.S. sanctions.
Incidentally, it was
the Trump administration that allowed waivers that enabled the Iranian oil sales that generated the $6 billion in the first place.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysi...https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/22/trumps-big-ir...
No. of Recommendations: 8
No. The funds were payment for South Korean purchases of Iranian energy products, primarily condensate, and have sat idle in two South Korean banks.
Thanks for the correction, commonone. Yes, the $6B was owed to Iran by South Korea, not the US, and was frozen due to US sanctions on Iran. Biden released the freeze in order to secure the release of 5 Americans wrongly held as prisoners in Iran.
The larger point, that we both agree on, is that Republicans should not use this as a talking point to claim that Biden inadvertently "funded" the Hamas attack. The money did not come from US taxpayers, and has been monitored to make sure it could only be used for humanitarian purposes.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Commonone: Incidentally, it was the Trump administration that allowed waivers that enabled the Iranian oil sales that generated the $6 billion in the first place.
Gasp! You mean it was Trump mollycoddling the Mullahs? Say it ain't so. 😄 😎
No. of Recommendations: 3
The larger point, that we both agree on, is that Republicans should not use this as a talking point to claim that Biden inadvertently "funded" the Hamas attack. The money did not come from US taxpayers, and has been monitored to make sure it could only be used for humanitarian purposes.
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The larger point, that liberals will never agree wit, is that monitoring is not fool proof. Just saying it doesn't guarantee it and for sure nobody has any idea how this monitoring will actually occur, who will perform it, how it will be reported and audited, and will decide that sanctions need to be re-instated. All that is important is that Biden has an off ramp for a stupid decision.
Lets say that monitoring is 100% iron clad effective and every dollar is accounted for and went to food and medicine and infrastructure for the Iranian people. So any money that Iran would have otherwise spent on food and medicine and infrastructure for the Iranian people can now go into arms production and providing missiles to Hamas.
Liberals blind and total trust in government is perplexing.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Lets say that monitoring is 100% iron clad effective and every dollar is accounted for and went to food and medicine and infrastructure for the Iranian people. So any money that Iran would have otherwise spent on food and medicine and infrastructure for the Iranian people can now go into arms production and providing missiles to Hamas.
Liberals blind and total trust in government is perplexing.
And as I've said, they have a 3rd grade level of understanding of how the world works. Breathtakingly naive is the kindest thing one can say.
No. of Recommendations: 8
The larger point, that liberals will never agree wit, is that monitoring is not fool proof.
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No actually, the larger point is that Trump put Iran in a position to resume it's uranium enrichment, and it did. We would rather not have an Iran with Nukes, and neither would Israel. So if Iran develops nuclear weapons, a good chunk of the blame can be laid at the feet of Trump, and anyone who supported Trump pulling out of the agreement. Did you support pulling out of the agreement Mike?
No. of Recommendations: 1
See? It's all Trumps fault.
Bush's fault.
Yet when Trump or Bush were in office, every little thing - even stuff having NOTHING to do with government - was their fault.
Hence I continue: I hope Iran gets nukes, and I regret I dont have the expertise to help.
It's time Europe and Israel wake up to a new world.
No. of Recommendations: 11
So any money that Iran would have otherwise spent on food and medicine and infrastructure for the Iranian people can now go into arms production and providing missiles to Hamas.Let's be logical about this, shall we? Given the scale of the attack, defense and intelligence experts all agree that Hamas has been planning the attack over 1 to 2
years. Whereas the money to get US prisoners back from Iran was unfrozen only
3 weeks ago. The idea that money unfrozen 3 weeks ago was used to fund an operation that has been planned over years is ridiculous.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-allows-6-billion-...Furthermore, the money is still sitting in a bank in Qatar
with U.S. Treasury oversight. . Not a single cent has been spent. Even Fox News reported this, see:
https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/171074335058269...
No. of Recommendations: 1
No actually, the larger point is that Trump put Iran in a position to resume it's uranium enrichment, and it did. We would rather not have an Iran with Nukes, and neither would Israel. So if Iran develops nuclear weapons, a good chunk of the blame can be laid at the feet of Trump, and anyone who supported Trump pulling out of the agreement. Did you support pulling out of the agreement Mike?
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The Obama agreement that Trump pulled out of was not a Senate ratified treaty. Why, because Obama did not submit it. Why was that, because the votes ere not there to ratify.
The treaty did not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons as some like you apparently believe. It did put a limit on the degree of Uranium enrichment that could occur and only did that for ten years.
So the treaty was not a prohibition but rather a roadmap for Iran to follow. Continue building centrifuges and stockpiling partially enriched uranium for ten years. And during that decade, continue to develop and perfect your long range missile technology which the treaty did not restrict at all.
After ten years, fire up the centrifuges and finish the enrichment of your stockpiled Uranium, construct a nuclear weapon, put it on top of one of your well tested and highly accurate rockets, and launch it on Israel. Easy Peasy.
Top all this off as the Iran's cheating on the treaty. And yes, I was not in favor of the agreement when Obama made it and was glad that Trump pulled us out. What Iran understands and respects is power and the will to use it such as when Trump took out Qasem Soleimani.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Let's be logical about this, shall we? Given the scale of the attack, defense and intelligence experts all agree that Hamas has been planning the attack over 1 to 2 years. Whereas the money to get US prisoners back from Iran was unfrozen only 3 weeks ago. The idea that money unfrozen 3 weeks ago was used to fund an operation that has been planned over years is ridiculous.
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Of course. This attack was likely funded by some of the $6B of sanction relief that Obama gave the Iranians in order to get them to sign the original agreement (plus $400M in cash).
The $4B that Biden just gave Iran access to will fund the Hamas and other terrorist attacks you will be seeing for the next four or five years. And lets not forget that Biden also restored $235M of aid to Hamas that Trump has put on hold so the Palestinians can fund their own missiles for a while.
No. of Recommendations: 2
I suspect that Bibi knew this attack was coming and allowed in order to solidify his support. It is hard to imagine an intelligence failure of this magnitude by the Israelis.
The people to pay the price for this will ultimately be Palestinian civilians and children. Screw Hamas and eff the IDF.
No. of Recommendations: 9
bighairymike: This attack was likely funded by some of the $6B of sanction relief that Obama gave the Iranians in order to get them to sign the original agreement (plus $400M in cash).
Umm, the agreement that was inked in 2016? And the Iranians were likely to walk away with $10 billion through arbitration instead of the $6 billion.
But, sure, keen logic that Iran and Hamas waited seven years to use that money against Israel. Guess they could have waited another seven years and it would still be Obama's fault.
bighairymike: And lets not forget that Biden also restored $235M of aid to Hamas that Trump has put on hold...
That's a lie. Biden didn't give a plug nickel to Hamas. Funny, you seem to have nothing to say about the sanctions Trump waived to let Iran sell its oil.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Funny, you seem to have nothing to say about the sanctions Trump waived to let Iran sell its oil. - CO
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Yeah, that was one of those tough calls a President often has to make. Good and Bad mixed up in the same decision. Trump certainly did not want to help Iran but he also had to factor in the availability of oil to countries friendly to the US (Japan, South Korea, India, Italy, Taiwan) who depended on buying oil from Iran. If the US had the export capacity to take up the slack, I am sure that would have been Trumps first choice. But the reality was he didn't want to shock the international oil market into still higher prices, so he relaxed the sanctions but only for six months as I recall.
All in all, I would have preferred he kept max pressure on Iran and let the chips fall where they may.
No. of Recommendations: 3
The Biden regime knows damn well where the Iranians spend their money. Let's hear it straight from the horse's ass himself:
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/17110263619..."Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism,"So why make it easier on them, for f's sake?
This administration has to make nods to its left flank, which is full of people like this
https://twitter.com/nannburke/status/1711063866459...The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance. The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation and apartheid makes no one safer. Rabid, rabid anti-semites like Tlaib and some of the other members of the squad. And probably a few who post here.
No. of Recommendations: 2
And enough left wing B.S. gaslighting about the $6 billion. It's going to be used for terrorism, either by freeing up money they could spend elsewhere or in direct support.
It's insane to pretend otherwise, but pretending is what the left is all about.
https://twitter.com/GLNoronha/status/1710752059161...2. Iran can now devote $6 billion of its unrestricted funds toward financial, operational, and logistical support for terror proxies including Hamas.
And it will do so through the Central Bank of Iran, which received a sanctions waiver last month as part of the hostage deal.Bbbbut the money goes to medicine only! Sure it does...
...until the mullahs sell it on the black market:
https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/economy/while-whi...The Iraqi army's intelligence on Thursday reported it has confiscated 19 trucks that were smuggling hundreds of thousands of medications from Iran to Iraq. All the while, Iran's regime complains about international sanctions preventing them from helping people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Iraq media outlets, these trucks were traveling from the side roads in the Iraqi province of Diyala to evade customs duties and were stopped on the same route. The Iranian regime has been using the smuggling of goods as a source of income to fund its illicit activities.the Iranians blame the sanctions for medicine shortages, but they send drugs to bad places:
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2020/10/14/corruption...So why are there still shortages? Namaki warned lawmakers that corrupt networks are selling drugs on the black market, 'hoarding medicines in warehouses, and distributing counterfeit drugs.' The health minister also blasted 'a highly complicated network' within the government responsible for systemic corruption and theft, including the hoarding of 'millions of antiviral masks.'
Such problems affect every sector of Iran's economy. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Iran 146th out of 180 countries. The Financial Action Task Force also considers Iran to be a 'high-risk jurisdiction' for corruption, money laundering, and the financing of terrorism.EVERYTHING that regime does is tied to terrorism.
And it's not like there aren't other banks around to lend a helping hand with laundering money:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/turkish-bank-charge...The Department of Justice announced that TÜRKİYE HALK BANKASI A.S., aka 'Halkbank,' was charged today in a six-count indictment with fraud, money laundering, and sanctions offenses related to the bank's participation in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. The case is assigned to United States District Judge Richard M. Berman.
'Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank, allegedly conspired to undermine the United States Iran sanctions regime by illegally giving Iran access to billions of dollars' worth of funds, all while deceiving U.S. regulators about the scheme,' said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. 'This is one of the most serious Iran sanctions violations we have seen, and no business should profit from evading our laws or risking our national security.'Iran's own President says, "Screw you, we're spending the money where we see fit":
https://twitter.com/GLNoronha/status/1701667655113...Iranian President Raisi: 'We will spend [the $6bn ransom payment] wherever we see fit.'
Lester Holt: So this won't just be spent on food, medicine, and humanitarian goods?
Raisi: 'Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people need.'
No. of Recommendations: 10
The Obama agreement that Trump pulled out of was not a Senate ratified treaty. Why, because Obama did not submit it. Why was that, because the votes ere not there to ratify.
The treaty did not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons as some like you apparently believe. It did put a limit on the degree of Uranium enrichment that could occur and only did that for ten years.
Notice I called it an agreement, not a treaty. Here is what I think:
"The P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and Germany) wanted to unwind Iran's nuclear program to the point that if Tehran decided to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would take at least one year, giving world powers time to respond. Heading into the JCPOA negotiations, U.S. intelligence officials estimated that, in the absence of an agreement, Iran could produce enough nuclear material for a weapon in a few months."
The estimate with the agreement was 15 years, not 10 Mike. So we had a 6 nation agreement on one side, Iran was in compliance - twice certified by Trump's admin. I remember at the time because there was talk of using bunker busters to get to Iran's processing centrifuges. Remember when we put a virus into their centrifuge computer software?
Still, Trump's withdrawing and tightening the screws puts the kibosh to an agreement with 6 countries that opened up Iran for inspections and effectively delayed development of a bomb for 15 years. A worthy goal considering how tense it was. Easing away from a crisis is a good thing. Yes, Mike, there are times we'll let you go in with your battle axe and have at it, but don't we both agree that avoiding war is good as long as you don't give away the store?
The tech for the bomb is easy as long as you don't execute your scientists for making mistakes. But the uranium enrichment turns out to be difficult (I wouldn't have thought this). So a delay of 15 years puts us almost halfway into a completely new generation of people running Iran.
We are the ones who made it so nukes virtually guarantee no invasion, so countries like N Korea want them. I mean Pakistan next door has nukes. India has nukes. So pulling out was a huge mistake and it looks like it was done by Trump just to negate an Obama accomplishment - pettiness. Our international security run by - pettiness.
Top all this off as the Iran's cheating on the treaty. And yes, I was not in favor of the agreement when Obama made it and was glad that Trump pulled us out.
But Iran wasn't cheating until we pulled out and tightened the screws, so you and Trump caused the cheating.
What Iran understands and respects is power and the will to use it such as when Trump took out Qasem Soleimani.
Like anyone else, Iran needs to eat, so it will play ball for that. A certain amount of cheating is to be expected, and ignored or dealt with. Well, OK, you are in favor of Iran having nukes in a year, rather than 15 years from now Got it. Not a wise choice, but it does suit your bluster.
No. of Recommendations: 7
Dope1: Iran's own President says, "Screw you, we're spending the money where we see fit":
Presidents often make statements to the press that are lies or are claims that they cannot fulfill.
Some fellow named Trump, also a president, said he was going to divert billions of dollars of defense, military and other Pentagon funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border but ran into the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse.
Raisi can say whatever he wants to say to Lester Holt but he doesn't have the funds and does not control disbursement of the funds.
Iran hasn't yet gotten a penny of those funds and I suspect getting and spending them has just become considerably more difficult for Iran.
No. of Recommendations: 11
Lapsody:
But Iran wasn't cheating until we pulled out and tightened the screws, so you and Trump caused the cheating.Iran maintained the terms of the JCPOA, including inspections, for a full year after Trump withdrew from the agreement. To increase pressure on European leaders fighting to save the deal, Iran gradually took more steps in violation of the pact and enriched uranium to 60%.
For roughly a year after Trump's controversial announcement, Iran remained in compliance with the deal. But the Iranian government began taking steps away from the JCPOA in the summer of 2019. By November 2020, the UN's nuclear watchdog said Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium was more than 12 times the limit set under the JCPOA.
So Trump killed a deal negotiated by the P5+1 in which Iran agreed to reduce its number of centrifuges by two-thirds, agreed to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98% and also agreed to limit uranium enrichment to 3.67%, restrictions that would allowed it to have enough enriched uranium to maintain the country's energy needs without having the ability to build a nuclear bomb.
And all because Trump's megalomania could not let him allow anything Obama achieved to stand.
For those who said they did not approve of the P5+1 negotiated JCPOA agreement, did Trump achieve a better result?
https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-nuclear-deal-...
