In realizing the Congressional deadline was December 15, 2017, there is another recertification coming up in January. Perhaps if the US Congress FINALLY admits Iran is upholding the agreement they could recertify the agreement.
December 28, 2017
By Michael Crowley
President Donald Trump (click here) allowed the Iran nuclear deal to survive through 2017, but the new year will offer him another chance to blow up the agreement — and critics and supporters alike believe he may take it.
By mid-January, the president will face new legal deadlines to choose whether to slap U.S. sanctions back on Tehran. Senior lawmakers and some of Trump's top national security officials are trying to preserve the agreement. But the deal's backers fear Trump has grown more willing to reject the counsel of his foreign policy team, as he did with his recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital....
P5 + 1 may turn into P4 + 1. The USA is completely foolish to attempt to derail the Iran nuclear agreement. If the agreement was completely dissolved Iran could immediately return to nuclear proliferation and guaranteed there will never be an agreement in the future. To dissolve the agreement will be to put Israel in immediate danger should the Iranian nuclear program restart.
The US Congress promised to uphold the certification when the US State Department announces Iran is in compliance. If the Republican Congress again refuses their responsibility in the face of a populous President, they need to go. 2018 should clean out the Republican swamp once and for all.
This majority Republican Congress has a real disdain for the poor, the middle class, children and the elderly. No one needs the added stress this Congress is bringing to the most vulnerable Americans. If Congress can't do it's job in certifying AGREEMENTS when conditions are met, then perhaps the Ameican people should take back their country in 2018 and hopefully, the international community will be patient until then.
December 30, 2017
By Daniel Chaitin
This week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (click here) sought to correct the record with Kentucky news outlets after an editorial and political cartoon cast the blame on him for a new tax on a local college that prides itself on its Christian values and helping low-income students.
McConnell wrote opinion pieces for both the Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader to explain that the new tax impacting Berea College as a result of the tax overhaul spearheaded by GOP leadership should be pinned on the "hypocrisy coming from Senate Democrats" and not himself....
Monday, January 01, 2018
A Supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides with the moon's closest approach to the Earth.
January 1, 2017
The fireworks (click here) may be long gone but the first supermoon of 2018 is illuminating the skies across the world.
NASA is calling this the “biggest and brightest” one for the entire year and so far it isn’t disappointing.
The phenomenon “supermoon” occurs when the moon becomes full on the same day it reaches its perigee, the point in the moon’s elliptical orbit when it is closest to Earth....
...“The moon looked magnificent,” said David Blanchflower, who snapped a photo of it in the United Kingdom. “Dominating the night sky with its incredible brightness. Awe-inspiring.”
If you miss January’s first full moon — nicknamed a wolf moon — don’t worry, there’s another one this month, on the 31st.
The supermoon lit up the sky in our area Monday. Take a look! (click here)
The fireworks (click here) may be long gone but the first supermoon of 2018 is illuminating the skies across the world.
NASA is calling this the “biggest and brightest” one for the entire year and so far it isn’t disappointing.
The phenomenon “supermoon” occurs when the moon becomes full on the same day it reaches its perigee, the point in the moon’s elliptical orbit when it is closest to Earth....
...“The moon looked magnificent,” said David Blanchflower, who snapped a photo of it in the United Kingdom. “Dominating the night sky with its incredible brightness. Awe-inspiring.”
If you miss January’s first full moon — nicknamed a wolf moon — don’t worry, there’s another one this month, on the 31st.
The supermoon lit up the sky in our area Monday. Take a look! (click here)
January 1, 2017
By Eric Bailey
Los Angeles — For all of the storylines (click here) surrounding Monday’s game between Oklahoma and Georgia, the Rose Bowl likely will be decided by one key matchup.
Quarterback play.
Oklahoma has Baker Mayfield, a Heisman Trophy winner with 39 games of experience. Georgia has Jake Fromm, a true freshman who has commanded the Bulldogs to Monday’s College Football Playoff semifinal contest.
Granted, it takes a team to win a big football game, but a quarterback is a leader. Everything good or bad begins with that player.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has provided analysis for some of Mayfield’s games over the past three seasons. He understands — like most in Oklahoma’s fan base — the importance of the senior quarterback to his team.
“I’m a big believer in energy. His team feeds off of his energy, maybe unlike any other quarterback that I’ve seen before,” Herbstreit said on Sunday morning. “If he gets going, if he gets that look in his eye, it’s really challenging to defend him.”...
By Eric Bailey
Los Angeles — For all of the storylines (click here) surrounding Monday’s game between Oklahoma and Georgia, the Rose Bowl likely will be decided by one key matchup.
Quarterback play.
Oklahoma has Baker Mayfield, a Heisman Trophy winner with 39 games of experience. Georgia has Jake Fromm, a true freshman who has commanded the Bulldogs to Monday’s College Football Playoff semifinal contest.
Granted, it takes a team to win a big football game, but a quarterback is a leader. Everything good or bad begins with that player.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has provided analysis for some of Mayfield’s games over the past three seasons. He understands — like most in Oklahoma’s fan base — the importance of the senior quarterback to his team.
“I’m a big believer in energy. His team feeds off of his energy, maybe unlike any other quarterback that I’ve seen before,” Herbstreit said on Sunday morning. “If he gets going, if he gets that look in his eye, it’s really challenging to defend him.”...
I happen to agree.
There is no greater sponsor of terrorists than the country that hid Osama bin Laden. There is a risk in defunding Pakistan with American forces in Afghanistan. There is nothing to stop Pakistan from issuing far different orders to border guards.
It is the Pakistani ISI that has caused so many problems. The ISI is probably the entity that trained the Taliban for many years before they returned to Afghanistan. The real folly occurred under "W" when he abandoned Afghanistan to invade oil-laden Iraq.
Sorry for the pause I had a phone call.
Other than the Taliban, I believe the Haqqani Network is still alive and well. There are many entities that feed off financial aid into the region. I don't know that eliminating that aid so much as targeting it is a far better strategy to end violence. One aspect of burgeoning societies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are places of education. Pakistan especially has been successful in the education of their people over the past decade. Of course, the content of the education can be challenged if it inspires hatred or isolationism. But, that can be better realized by offering financial aid to curriculum that inspires democracy and freedom, including religious freedom, diversity and tolerance.
Realizing how small the world has become with increased online access is to realize how ridiculous isolation is as a method to governance. Freedom of speech has never been more important both domestically for the USA and with international allies. It is even more interesting to realize social media has been accepted to some degree in traditionally communist countries, such as China.
But, as to Pakistan. I think President Trump is partially correct. This is a country that has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty and remains a concern to India in maintaining any reasonable peace in the region. I think funding for Pakistan should be in the areas of education and better governance including ending the vacillation of the ISI. I have long believed paying for Pakistani airspace was a major mistake by the USA that resulted in larger danger to the USA than safety.
January 1, 2018
After recent reports (click here) that the Donald Trump administration was considering cutting off aid to Pakistan, US President Donald Trump slammed the country, saying that the US had "foolishly" given Pakistan $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years.
Trump said that the US had only gotten lies and deceit in return for the monetary aid it had provided. Trump also said that US operations in Afghanistan were being hindered by the "safe haven" that Pakistan was providing to terrorists.
The US, which has provided Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid since 2002, said in August that it was withholding the $255 million until Pakistan did more to crackdown on terrorist groups.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was seriously weighing whether to withhold $255 million in already delayed aid to Islamabad over its failure to better crack down on terror groups in Pakistan....
It is the Pakistani ISI that has caused so many problems. The ISI is probably the entity that trained the Taliban for many years before they returned to Afghanistan. The real folly occurred under "W" when he abandoned Afghanistan to invade oil-laden Iraq.
Sorry for the pause I had a phone call.
Other than the Taliban, I believe the Haqqani Network is still alive and well. There are many entities that feed off financial aid into the region. I don't know that eliminating that aid so much as targeting it is a far better strategy to end violence. One aspect of burgeoning societies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are places of education. Pakistan especially has been successful in the education of their people over the past decade. Of course, the content of the education can be challenged if it inspires hatred or isolationism. But, that can be better realized by offering financial aid to curriculum that inspires democracy and freedom, including religious freedom, diversity and tolerance.
Realizing how small the world has become with increased online access is to realize how ridiculous isolation is as a method to governance. Freedom of speech has never been more important both domestically for the USA and with international allies. It is even more interesting to realize social media has been accepted to some degree in traditionally communist countries, such as China.
But, as to Pakistan. I think President Trump is partially correct. This is a country that has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty and remains a concern to India in maintaining any reasonable peace in the region. I think funding for Pakistan should be in the areas of education and better governance including ending the vacillation of the ISI. I have long believed paying for Pakistani airspace was a major mistake by the USA that resulted in larger danger to the USA than safety.
January 1, 2018After recent reports (click here) that the Donald Trump administration was considering cutting off aid to Pakistan, US President Donald Trump slammed the country, saying that the US had "foolishly" given Pakistan $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years.
Trump said that the US had only gotten lies and deceit in return for the monetary aid it had provided. Trump also said that US operations in Afghanistan were being hindered by the "safe haven" that Pakistan was providing to terrorists.
The US, which has provided Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid since 2002, said in August that it was withholding the $255 million until Pakistan did more to crackdown on terrorist groups.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was seriously weighing whether to withhold $255 million in already delayed aid to Islamabad over its failure to better crack down on terror groups in Pakistan....
Where is the expert insight of Christiane Amanpour?
An Op-Ed somewhere might be good. My concern is this: the USA turned against the people of Iran with the travel ban.
The last time there were substantial demonstrations, including deaths of dearly wonderful Iranian people, the elections reflected a far more open Iran with leadership that brought an agreement with P5+1. Right now most Iranians are looking at each other and wondering what the heck happened that brought the level of terrorists?
See, there have never been terrorists from Iran (click here) and the people don't deserve this level of hatred. This is where the Trump White House fails democracy and international relationships. There is a gross difference between the people and the government.
The Iranian government is known as a state sponsor of terror. That may be true in considering the USA or Israel has successfully intercepted military shipments to the Houthis and Hezbollah. But, with Hezbollah becoming an autonomous organization with the abrupt appearance of ISIS, Iran's influence has to be questioned.
The Trump White House is causing distress among the people of Iran and creating a paradigm that might work against the best interest of a more friendly Iranian government. The paradigm shift that brought President Hassan Rouhani to leadership may be successfully challenged. That would be a profound loss to the USA's relationship with the Iranian people.
I wish President Rouhani would find his own sanctions to make it clear to the USA that Iran does not breed terrorists within their borders. These current protests are worrisome and to have Trump embrace them without fully understanding their origins and potential outcomes is foolish.
This is the folly of Trump policy regarding Israel. The populous government currently within the USA government are plainly stupid about democracy and economics. President Rouhani needs to point to the naive USA government when making an impression on the international community regarding very belated travel sanctions. It would not be such a stark surprise to have had "W" place travel sanctions on the countries where terrorists called home until the USA had a chance to react to the attacks of September 11, 2001. But, today? Ridiculous.
The USA Supreme Court examines ONLY the right of the USA President to institute travel bans to protect the USA within it's borders, not the necessity of it's timing. Trump is paranoid another 911 will occur because he doesn't have a clue about international relations and USA national security. I would think the political paranoia is obvious in all his actions when it comes to these ideas.
Given a former CEO of Exxonmobile is in the State Department should raise the issue as to how much foreign oil is the USA now receiving. When a Republican majority passed an amendment to a necessary budget allowing the export of USA oil and gas, there was a paradigm shift that requires scrutiny. How much more oil imports exist now that Tillerson is running the State Department and can it be balanced with USA domestic oil being exported?
USA international relations are a matter of decades if not centuries of administrations, including individual state relations for trade. The idea a single populous White House can simply tip the scales willy-nilly is hideous and to consider President Trump is in violation of the Emoluments Clause makes it all that much more corrupt to the core.
See, there have never been terrorists from Iran (click here) and the people don't deserve this level of hatred. This is where the Trump White House fails democracy and international relationships. There is a gross difference between the people and the government.
The Iranian government is known as a state sponsor of terror. That may be true in considering the USA or Israel has successfully intercepted military shipments to the Houthis and Hezbollah. But, with Hezbollah becoming an autonomous organization with the abrupt appearance of ISIS, Iran's influence has to be questioned.
The Trump White House is causing distress among the people of Iran and creating a paradigm that might work against the best interest of a more friendly Iranian government. The paradigm shift that brought President Hassan Rouhani to leadership may be successfully challenged. That would be a profound loss to the USA's relationship with the Iranian people.
I wish President Rouhani would find his own sanctions to make it clear to the USA that Iran does not breed terrorists within their borders. These current protests are worrisome and to have Trump embrace them without fully understanding their origins and potential outcomes is foolish.
This is the folly of Trump policy regarding Israel. The populous government currently within the USA government are plainly stupid about democracy and economics. President Rouhani needs to point to the naive USA government when making an impression on the international community regarding very belated travel sanctions. It would not be such a stark surprise to have had "W" place travel sanctions on the countries where terrorists called home until the USA had a chance to react to the attacks of September 11, 2001. But, today? Ridiculous.
The USA Supreme Court examines ONLY the right of the USA President to institute travel bans to protect the USA within it's borders, not the necessity of it's timing. Trump is paranoid another 911 will occur because he doesn't have a clue about international relations and USA national security. I would think the political paranoia is obvious in all his actions when it comes to these ideas.
Given a former CEO of Exxonmobile is in the State Department should raise the issue as to how much foreign oil is the USA now receiving. When a Republican majority passed an amendment to a necessary budget allowing the export of USA oil and gas, there was a paradigm shift that requires scrutiny. How much more oil imports exist now that Tillerson is running the State Department and can it be balanced with USA domestic oil being exported?
USA international relations are a matter of decades if not centuries of administrations, including individual state relations for trade. The idea a single populous White House can simply tip the scales willy-nilly is hideous and to consider President Trump is in violation of the Emoluments Clause makes it all that much more corrupt to the core.
January 1, 2018
By Trita Parsi
In a matter of days, (click here) protests in Iran have quickly spread across the country, taking the government by surprise and leaving analysts and pundits alike confused. Part of the reason many have been caught off guard is because these protests appear quite different from their 2009 predecessor -- in terms of size, leadership and objective.
By Trita Parsi
In a matter of days, (click here) protests in Iran have quickly spread across the country, taking the government by surprise and leaving analysts and pundits alike confused. Part of the reason many have been caught off guard is because these protests appear quite different from their 2009 predecessor -- in terms of size, leadership and objective.
But another reason is that the drivers of these protests are from a segment of the population that has rarely figured into Iran's political developments in the past two decades -- those who never believed or have lost hope in the idea of real change through reform....
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