Obama wants to prevent new Iran sanctions

[The Dharma Bum]

French and US societies were both born in revolution, UK still has a monarch.

[Leviathan]

[Leviathan]

[The Comrade]

[Professor]

[Indy]

Don't we need to separate the Iranian people from the Mullahs? It's not like they're totally supporting them, electing them and cheering them on. If you those assholes were to disappear Iran could quite possibly become one of the more progressive countries in the region.

Just look at all the fun times all the Sunni Muslim countries in the region have visited upon not just us but the world in the past two decades. So the question becomes, if you're going to back a horse in that part of the world, do you want to play the long game with those who cook up things like 9/11 or with the Shiites who, I may remind you, could help us considerably in managing Iraq (now that we've screwed that pooch) and yes, Afghanistan.

Of do you just want to keep throwing your weight behind the corrupt, disgusting Saudi royals?

Problem is, you've got a bunch of yahoos in congress (and the country) who can only think in binary terms: Iranians = terrorists! We need to bomb them!

Pffft. You'd think that failed approach would lose its appeal by now but apparently not. Like I said, I support Israel, but Bibi going around trying to undermine any attempts to start thawing the cold war with Iran should be viewed as the obstructionism that it is.

[Professor]

I'm with you in spirit, Indy. Except that I think that we shouldn't "support" any of them over any others of them. Not saying that America is any better in this instance (that's another argument for another day), but supporting Israel over Iran is a hypocritical argument whichever way you go. And, so would be supporting Iran over Israel. Both have unsupported hatred for the other based upon theology and ancient history. Both have sponsored terrorist acts. Both have committed humanitarian atrocities recently.

Just support everyone (or no one) and trade equally with all.

[Mr.Bill]

There's been bumps in the road but both England and France have been good allies. I think especially since 9/11 France has helped us a lot in intelligence and trying to keep us from making even more mis-steps in the Middle East.

[exploited]

Buried deep inside an Iranian is an American wanting to come out. There are very few countries in the world that would make a better ally to America, and the historical antagonism between the US and Iran makes no sense given how close you once were.

In the 1920s, Iran was hiring Americans to run their treasury, for God's sake. The US was viewed as an upstanding and decent ally all the way up to the late 40s. Sacrificing Iran to the Cold War is one of the worst examples of squandering a valuable, potentially transformative relationship in US history.

The sanctions increase the power of the religious regime while weakening the power of secular authorities. They are a recipe for long-term disaster, and pretty awful for Iranian civilians, who are naturally affectionate towards Americans who aren't mercilessly f**k them.

In my opinion, we ought to just gift Iran a nuclear power plant, drop the sanctions, and send teams in to train them on secure and safe storage of nuclear weapons. Pandora isn't going back in the box, so unless Iran gets nukes or Israel gives theirs up, needless conflict will continue. In the meantime, the whole region will benefit if Israel is made to chill the f**k out.

[Professor]