Sunday, November 24, 2013

Matt 24 watch, 229e: "Historic" "Deal" with Iran struck in Geneva . . . "Peace for our time" (NOT -- Iranian President Rouhani celebrates "right" to enrich Uranium . . . putting Iran 2 weeks away from enough Highly Enriched Uranium to make bombs at any time)

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to relive, or at least to echo, its worst chapters.

So, it is appropriate to begin this post with how on September 30, 1938, on his return from the Munich deal that stabbed Czechoslovakia in the back, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced a deal that gave "peace for our time." (In reality, war was now all but certain, and would break out just eleven months later as Hitler went after his next victim, Poland.)

Here he is at the moment of infamy where he had just stepped off the plane from Germany, and was triumphantly waving the meaningless piece of paper:

Peace for our time -- NOT, Sept 30, 1938. (HT: Wiki)
 The BBC news piece for this date that forever lives in shameful infamy, in part reads:

1938: 'Peace for our time' - Chamberlain
The British Prime Minister has been hailed as bringing "peace to Europe" after signing a non-aggression pact with Germany. 

PM Neville Chamberlain arrived back in the UK today, holding an agreement signed by Adolf Hitler which stated the German leader's desire never to go to war with Britain again. 

The two men met at the Munich conference between Britain, Germany, Italy and France yesterday, convened to decide the future of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. 

Mr Chamberlain declared the accord with the Germans signalled "peace for our time", after he had read it to a jubilant crowd gathered at Heston airport in west London. 

The German leader stated in the agreement: "We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe." 

But many MPs are bound to criticise it as part of the Prime Minister's "appeasement" of German aggression in Europe. 

And Mr Chamberlain's personal pact will be little comfort to the Czechoslovakian Government which has been forced to hand over the region of Sudetenland to Germany [--> which just happened to contain the key defense line against Germany, and the loss of which shortly led to German occupation of all of Czechoslovakia], despite not being present at the conference . . .  
Fast forward to 2013, with Iran at the nuke threshold after years of a persistent declarations of genocidal intent towards Israel, and pursuit of the means of genocide via ballistic missiles and the nukes to put on them, costing well north of US$ 100 billions. 

The Washington Post, overnight, tells us:

Iran, world powers reach historic nuclear deal



GENEVA — Iran and six major powers agreed early Sunday on a historic deal that freezes key parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some economic sanctions.

The agreement, sealed at a 3 a.m. signing ceremony in Geneva’s Palace of Nations, requires Iran to halt or scale back parts of its nuclear infrastructure, the first such pause in more than a decade.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hailed the deal, which was reached after four days of hard bargaining, including an eleventh-hour intervention by Secretary of State John F. Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe, Russia and China.

“It is important that we all of us see the opportunity to end an unnecessary crisis and open new horizons based on respect, based on the rights of the Iranian people and removing any doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” Zarif told reporters in English. “This is a process of attempting to restore confidence.”  . . . .

The Associated Press reported that hours after the accord was reached, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the deal recognizes Tehran’s “rights” to maintain an atomic program. . . . . His reference to “nuclear rights” in a nationally broadcast speech touches on the country’s demand to keep its uranium enrichment program . . . .

In an address from the White House after the deal was announced, President Obama praised the negotiators’ work. “Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure — a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon,” he said. “While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back.”

Times of Israel adds, quoting Rouhani:


“No matter what interpretations are given, Iran’s right to enrichment has been recognized,” said Rouhani, who later posed with family members of nuclear scientists whose slayings in recent years Iran has blamed on Israel and allies.

He said that in a final deal, Iran’s nuclear enrichment will be able to proceed “similar to the past.”

In his speech, Rouhani repeated Iran’s claim that it would “never” seek atomic weapons, calling the accusation a “historical joke,” and praised the Iranian team that carried out the negotiations . . . [Also cf. Geller here.]
 Given that there is a track record of discovering hidden, undisclosed  facilities, and given the track record of evasions, lies and  steady progress to the end game of genocide, pardon my skepticism. 

The pivotal point on the "deal" is that Iran is able to enrich and feels its 'rights" to do so have been secured. That is a major surrender, and it is a strong sign that the US Administration's intent is to surrender to the idea of Iran as a nuclear power -- a new nuclear weapons armed power. One based on a ruthless terrorism-sponsoring and empire building dictatorship (what else do you think Iranian domination of Syria and Lebanon is?), with openly declared genocidal intent towards Jews and especially Israel.

The further implication of this "deal" is that the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty is dead. All across the Middle East and beyond, a belt of unstable states will draw the appropriate conclusion, that their only hope for security lies in building their own nuclear weapons and the means to acquire such.


The likely consequences of that are obvious: a massively bloody nightmare.

War -- already delayed by a year because of US pressure on the now openly betrayed Israel -- is probably only months away. 

I have no reason to doubt that Israel will strike -- regardless of diplomatic and public relations consequences -- in defense of its people's right to exist rather than be incinerated in a new holocaust of Iranian nuclear weapons, or living in the meanwhile under the shadow of terrorism backed up by the threat of nuclear annihilation. Terrorism that is likely to include so-called dirty bombs that use ordinary explosives to scatter radioactive materials.

 We have decided to echo the sad history of 1938, and -- absent a miracle -- will pay the consequences. In blood. END