Negotiations between the US and Iran have never been more robust in the last 30 years than they are right now. So that would be why Krauthammer declared that Obama has given up on them altogether. It's the right-wing meme of the week: Obama will cave to Iran on nuclear power.
Except it's a lie. As usual.
Some lies, I expect: Death panels, fear-mongering, even interviews with the likes of John McCain and Mitt Romney claiming they would have done it oh, so much better. But I draw the line at any neocon commentator intentionally undermining negotiations that are on track to actually become agreements.
Of course, it's really all about Bibi and his reactionary view of the world. Israel is great, everyone else must be subordinate or wiped off the map. That's how Fox News sees the world we live in. So they lead off with Bibi's UN speech Monday, where he tells the General Assembly Iran will build nuclear weapons, and when they do, "all the charm and all the smiles will vanish."
"It is then," Bibi continued, "that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world."
Yes, and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, too. Remember that lie? As for aggressive fanaticism, my thinking is that the pot has met the kettle on that score.
Krauthammer and O'Reilly's angst stems from the belief they've invented in their own heads that Obama surrendered to Iran on the nuclear weapons front.
He added that President Obama gave up on these negotiations with Iran long ago, judging by his actions – first, he weakened the sanctions against Iran before even sitting at the negotiation table, and second, he conceded in advance the principle of enriching uranium.”
“Even if the negotiations are successful, it will leave Iran a few months away from a bomb," Krauthammer said. "We know it, Obama knows, Iran knows it, the world knows it.”
O’Reilly pointed out that Israel is not just going to sit back and let Iran acquire these weapons, and their response would likely include going to war.
Here's reality: The negotiations are at a key point, and the negotiators know what they want from Iran. They want accountability, inspections, and more accountability.
Reuters:
Western strategists have long debated the spectre of Iran "breaking out" - suddenly showing the ability to explode an atom bomb. But some see a "sneak-out" less visible to U.N. inspectors as a possibly bigger risk and world powers have calibrated their demands in negotiations with Iran to forestall any such outcome.
Under a "sneak-out" scenario, Western officials and experts say, Iran could build a uranium enrichment plant in secret to make bomb material unbeknownst to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, now empowered to visit only Tehran's declared nuclear sites.
To counter this risk, they say, any breakthrough diplomatic settlement with Iran must grant the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) broader surveillance powers in this vast country crisscrossed by remote, often inaccessible mountains and desert.
No national news source should be making a statement like that, especially one that is so utterly false at one of the most sensitive points in the negotiations.
These jerks will do and say whatever they think they must to win in November, without the slightest regard for actual policy and a more harmonious world. They ache for war, one that consumes the entire world and brings us all to our knees.
I miss the Fairness Doctrine, and the times when news was news and opinion was opinion. And patriotism? Yeah, there's none of that on Fox, but what do you expect from a "news" network run by Richard Nixon's former acolyte, anyway?
