"Iran, No Nuclear for YOU!" ?

[EviL~Ryu]

Bad relationship gets worse for Obama, Netanyahu

Washington (CNN)This never happens.

U.S. presidents and Israeli prime ministers, however sharply they disagree, simply do not take public pot shots at one another for the world to see. Until now.

Six years of petty insults between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sensationally burst into the open Tuesday in an extraordinary display of Washington political theater, produced by a combination of the alarming threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb, the cliffhanger climax of U.S. diplomacy with Tehran and the hyper-partisan politics in both nations. The legacies of two political giants were on the line, and the fact that neither ceded any ground has serious implications for already strained U.S.-Israel relations.
Netanyahu rails against Iran nuclear deal - in 100 seconds

Netanyahu rails against Iran nuclear deal - in 100 seconds 01:26
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Netanyahu's combative -- and at times poetic -- address to the U.S. Congress was more than a critique of Obama's Iran policy. It was a detailed repudiation of the U.S. leader's entire approach to the Middle East and the very idea of talking to the Islamic Republic, which the Israeli leader said was waging a "deadly Game of Thrones" for regional hegemony. Engaging Iran has been an Obama goal since he was a presidential candidate, but the Israeli leader set out to prove his American counterpart is naive about the dangers of the Middle East and the treacherous forces that are tearing it apart.

Obama's rebuttal

Two hours after Netanyahu left his grand stage, Obama offered his rebuttal, from his own fabled political pedestal -- the Oval Office. He dismissed the Israeli leader's speech -- possibly the signature moment of his long political career -- as "nothing new" and castigated him for not laying out a viable alternative to the intricate talks between world powers and Tehran to stop Iran from getting the bomb.

It's a public confrontation that has been brewing for years. But it has more often played out in background briefings, awkward photo ops and tense body language than dueling public statements that reveal the reality that Netanyahu and Obama have never clicked. While respecting, and often publicly glorifying, the bond between the United States and Israel, they've feuded behind closed doors about Obama's choice to use carrot-and-stick diplomacy rather than unrelenting pressure and even tighter sanctions to thwart Iran's nuclear program and about two failed administration efforts to broker Middle East peace.

READ: DId Netanyahu change some minds?

While the U.S. and Israeli governments have certainly fallen out in the past, this clash is different.

"This is big," said Robert Danin, senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. "There is something qualitatively different taking place."

Israel's suspicion has been simmering for years, following the president's vow to forge a "new beginning" with the Muslim world in Cairo at the beginning of his presidency, the administration's pursuit of a secret U.S. diplomatic track with Tehran and Obama's decision to break 30 years of silence in U.S.-Iran relations by calling President Hassan Rouhani and writing letters to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The implication of Netanyahu's speech was stunning. Here was an Israeli prime minister, effectively accusing the president of signing up to a deal that would not eradicate Iran's nuclear program but that could allow Iran to press ahead for a nuclear arsenal it could use to make good on its threats to destroy the Jewish state.

That was tough for some Democrats to process.

'I thought that was wrong'

Netanyahu "used the chamber to put him in a position that the president is often in, addressing the Congress at the State of the Union," Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee told CNN. "This puts him on equal footing with the President of the United States. I thought that was wrong."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a faithful supporter of Israel, said she had been "near tears" as Netanyahu spoke and accused him of showing "condescension" to the United States.

READ: 58 members of Congress skipped Netanyahu's speech

The White House has long thought Netanyahu to be in cahoots with Obama's political foes in an effort to torpedo his foreign policy.

"For the administration, this was the smoking gun, the proof that in fact there was this collusion between the Republicans and Israel," said Danin.

But Israel was unapologetic.

"I know that (the speech) creates some tensions with the administration," Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Intelligence Minister, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "Nobody can expect little Israel to keep silent on such a vital issue," he said.

Scripture

In his address to Congress, Netanyahu cited scripture and the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the thwarting of a powerful Persian viceroy's attempt to destroy the Jewish people.

"Today, the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us," Netanyahu said, accusing Khamenei of spewing the "oldest hatred."

"He tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed," said Netanyahu, who was interrupted repeated by lusty cheers from Republican lawmakers and some Democrats. "That deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them."

READ: Netanyahu: Deal will pave way to Iranian nuclear bomb

Netanyahu set out to dismantle point by point the assumptions underlying the international effort to convince Iran to throw open its nuclear installations in return for a lifting of punishing international sanctions. He said Iran would never change, could not be trusted and was likely to use a 10-year sunset on any agreement to go nuclear down the road.

He said Tehran was bent on simply gobbling up wide swathes of the Middle East, slamming its "goons in Gaza, it's lackeys in Lebanon, its Revolutionary Guards on the Golan Heights," and saying it wanted to control of Yemen, Syria and Iraq. All of this was to underline the U.S. should not be hoodwinked into seeing Iran as an ally against ISIS.
Obama, Netanyahu bash each other's Iran plans

Obama, Netanyahu bash each other's Iran plans 02:18
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"The enemy of your enemy is your enemy," Netanyahu said.

Obama made his move on Iran after the comparatively moderate Rouhani was elected in 2013, but Netanyahu said it had been business as usual in Tehran: "Rouhani's government hangs gays, persecutes Christians, jails journalists and executes even more prisoners than before," he said.

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, ascribed a darker motive to Netanyahu's train of thought.

"The logic of the prime minister's speech is regime change, not a nuclear speech," the official said, going on to refute Netanyahu's implication that the White House had naively been drawn in by the Islamic Republic.

"The administration does not trust the Iranian regime," the official said.

Obama is often laconic and loose in photo ops, but on Tuesday he leaned forward in his chair, animated and intense, saying people should not criticize a nuclear deal before it had been reached and that Netanyahu's critique of an interim deal with Iran had not panned out.

No 'viable alternatives'

"The prime minister didn't offer any viable alternatives," Obama said, arguing that in the absence of a deal Iran would simply speed up its nuclear program.

As Netanyahu headed back to Israel on Tuesday night, conversation was already turning to the lasting impact of his speech.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggested that Netanyahu's presentation could cause political problems for Obama.

"It makes it much more difficult to sell this deal to the U.S. public," he said.

CNN contributor Guy Ziv of American University said that fallout was going to make the already bruised relations between Obama and Netanyahu worse.

"I don't think the speech is going to do any sort of damage to the Iranian nuclear program, but we know it already has done some damage to U.S.-Israel relations," he said.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/politics/netanyahu-speech-analysis-congress/index.html


For you lazy readers, click link to watch video.

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Should the US and other world powers make a deal with Iran regarding its nuclear endeavors?
Is the Israeli minister correct in telling the US and other world powers that they are a bunch of idiots for trusting Iran with nuclear power?

[GaNzTheLegend]

Why not? They have every right to have them.

[EviL~Ryu]

Why not? They have every right to have them.

Well elaborate a little more on that point, well why do they have the rights for nuclear power? Are you sure that their checks and balances have the capability to keep it secure? Does this nuclear energy program open a gateway to something more sinister like nuclear arms??

[GaNzTheLegend]

Why not? They have every right to have them.

Well elaborate a little more on that point, well why do they have the rights for nuclear power? Are you sure that their checks and balances have the capability to keep it secure? Does this nuclear energy program open a gateway to something more sinister like nuclear arms??

They are a sovern country, they can do whatever they want. What gives another country that has nuclear weapons the right to tell them they can't have nuclear power?.

[Certified MENSA Genius Brain (smart)]

I think Iran needs nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the dangerous and aggressive nuclear-armed countries that have been waging war in their region.

[GaNzTheLegend]

I think Iran needs nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the dangerous and aggressive nuclear-armed countries that have been waging war in their region.

finally someone with some common sense

[EviL~Ryu]

Why not? They have every right to have them.

Well elaborate a little more on that point, well why do they have the rights for nuclear power? Are you sure that their checks and balances have the capability to keep it secure? Does this nuclear energy program open a gateway to something more sinister like nuclear arms??

They are a sovern country, they can do whatever they want. What gives another country that has nuclear weapons the right to tell them they can't have nuclear power?.

Well there you go "Nuclear Power", that's probably the major rub of this whole issue, Iran wants to use the nuclear technology to supply their energy grid but Israel sees that as just a cover so they can research into nuclear arms. Iran, and most other Eastern nations, have never really been a friend of the West or its ideals. Should the other countries risk basically the sake of the world on a country that has been known to have on and off relations?

[GaNzTheLegend]

Why not? They have every right to have them.

Well elaborate a little more on that point, well why do they have the rights for nuclear power? Are you sure that their checks and balances have the capability to keep it secure? Does this nuclear energy program open a gateway to something more sinister like nuclear arms??

They are a sovern country, they can do whatever they want. What gives another country that has nuclear weapons the right to tell them they can't have nuclear power?.

Well there you go "Nuclear Power", that's probably the major rub of this whole issue, Iran wants to use the nuclear technology to supply their energy grid but Israel sees that as just a cover so they can research into nuclear arms. Iran, and most other Eastern nations, have never really been a friend of the West or its ideals. Should the other countries risk basically the sake of the world on a country that has been known to have on and off relations?

Maybe if isreal got rid of their nukes iran wouldn't need any. Iran has ever right to get nukes if Isreal has them.

[EviL~Ryu]

I think Iran needs nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the dangerous and aggressive nuclear-armed countries that have been waging war in their region.

finally someone with some common sense

Well I am not agreeing with neither side of the argument, hope it doesn't seem that way. Just poking your thoughts.

[EviL~Ryu]

I think Iran needs nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the dangerous and aggressive nuclear-armed countries that have been waging war in their region.

You think their government has the capabilities and resources to keep that nuclear material safe? Government chance of corruption is usually very high in that region....what is saying that they won't simply sell it to highest bidder? US government by no means is perfect and corruption free but thus far have been able to avoid this problem from happening.

[GaNzTheLegend]

[Certified MENSA Genius Brain (smart)]

Not only does Israel have nuclear arms, they frequently launch incursions into Gaza and even Lebanon.  Iran is right to fear for the territorial integrity of their nation and their allies, and they could use a nuclear deterrent.  Finally, the United States, who have actually used nuclear weapons against civilians in the past, have recently overthrown the government of neighboring Iraq and are constantly meddling in the region.  The United States also gave support to Iraq when Iraq attempted an invasion of Iran in the 80s.  For Iran to feel secure and protect themselves, nuclear weapons are probably a good idea.

[EviL~Ryu]

Not only does Israel have nuclear arms, they frequently launch incursions into Gaza and even Lebanon.  Iran is right to fear for the territorial integrity of their nation and their allies, and they could use a nuclear deterrent.  Finally, the United States, who have actually used nuclear weapons against civilians in the past, have recently overthrown the government of neighboring Iraq and are constantly meddling in the region.  The United States also gave support to Iraq when Iraq attempted an invasion of Iran in the 80s.  For Iran to feel secure and protect themselves, nuclear weapons are probably a good idea.

Valid points, kuddos!

[tora is a simp bitch for billionaires]

North Korea would have been completely overran by JEWsa if they didn't have nukes.

[CumSavorer4385]

Iran should make nukes and then shoot them at Israel FTW!