(Brian McFadden, via gocomics.com)
Republicans, and their Israeli doppelganger, Prime Minister Netanyahu (R-Tel Aviv), are fast at work trying to sabotage the Iran nuclear agreement (which would take some craven Democrats in the Senate to accomplish - of which there's no shortage). Meanwhile, Jonathan Alter spoke to former Israeli intelligence chief Ami Ayalon:
"When negotiations began, Iran was two months away from acquiring enough material for a [nuclear] bomb. Now it will be 12 months," Ayalon says, and the difference is significant to anyone with a background in intelligence. "Israelis are failing to distinguish between reducing Iran's nuclear capability and Iran being the biggest devil in the Middle East," he says.That's one of the things that bonds Republicans to their right-wing Likudnik allies: using the tactic of fear to motivate. But, as Alter goes on to point out,
Why has the response been more emotional than logical? "It's very easy to play with fears in a fearful society,” he says.
For six years, Barack Obama has been cautious about calling out Iran. To convince China and Russia not to veto sanctions in the Security Council, he spoke softly. Harsh condemnations might have complicated the nuclear deal, which was rightly his first priority. The same went for pushing too hard on Iran’s outrageous imprisonment of four innocent Americans.
Now the president will have a much freer hand to confront Iran on its non-nuclear behavior, and has more political incentive to do so. Like the deal itself, that’s good for the world in general, and Israel in particular.(Identifying the rejectionists in the cartoon above: (top line) Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Scott Walker; (second line) Jeb! Bush, John Boehner, Mike Huckabee, Bibi Netanyahu.)
